Science and Innovation for Climate and
Energy
Department for Business, Energy &
Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
Mr Geoff Beacon
T +44 (0)20 7215 5000 - Public enquiries
+44 (0)20 7215 6740 - Textphone (
for
1.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
those with hearing impairment)
2.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
E
xxx.xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
www.gov.uk/beis
Our ref :
1. EIR2021/11713;
2. EIR2021/11710.
12 May 2021
Dear Mr Geoff Beacon,
Thank you for your emails of 23rd April where you requested the following information:
1. Please supply documents written in the past 2 years held by the Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which mention GWP*;
2. Please supply documents written in the past 2 years held by the Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which mention GWP*.
Your requests have been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
(‘the EIRs’) on the basis that the information you have asked for falls within the definition of
‘environmental information’ in the EIRs.
The Department wishes to be as open as possible in answering requests, and to help people
obtain the information they are looking for. Unfortunately, in this case to determine whether the
Department holds the information you requested and to locate, retrieve and extract the
information would require a substantial volume of work. This is because the terms in your
request are very broad. We would need to search across many teams to identify all items in
scope of your request and this would be a manifestly unreasonable burden on the Department.
The Information Commissioner’s Office guidance confirms that the costs of considering if
information is exempt can be taken into account as relevant arguments under EIR Regulation
12(4)(b).
After careful examination of your request under the EIRs, we have determined that Regulation
12(4)(b) would apply. Regulation 12(4)(b) states that a public authority may refuse to disclose
information to the extent that the request for information is manifestly unreasonable.
In applying the exception, we have considered the public interest test in respect of your
requests. We have applied a presumption in favour of disclosure as required by Regulation
12(2). We acknowledge that there is a public interest in the information you have requested.
Greater transparency makes Government more accountable to the electorate and increases
trust and also enables the public contribution to policy making to become more
effective. However, your requests are too broad. Gathering the information you have requested
would involve a significant cost and diversion of resources from the teams concerned and the
Department’s other work. Therefore, we will not process your requests as currently drafted.
Given the nature of your requests, you may wish to refine it by narrowing its scope and being
more specific concerning the precise nature of the information you wish to obtain. You may
consider reducing the scope of your request. This will help us determine whether we are able to
locate and provide all the relevant information.
Appeals procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal
review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of
the response to your original request and should be addressed to the Information Rights &
Records Unit. It would be helpful if you can tell us why you are dissatisfied with the response to
your request so we may address this during the internal review.
Information Rights & Records Unit
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
151 Buckingham Palace Road
London
SW1W 9SZ
Email
: xxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Complaints can be made to the Information
Commissioner via their website a
t https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/official-information-concerns-
report/official-information-concern/. Yours sincerely,
Science & Innovation for Climate & Energy
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