Thank you for your email to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs.  

Please read through the guidance below which may be relevant to your
enquiry. 

General enquiries 

We have a target of replying to emails within 20 working days where a
response is required, and 20 working days where a case is handled under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.  

Please be aware that we received a high volume of correspondence during
the Covid- 19 outbreak and are working through the backlog of cases. This
may mean a significant delay in response times. 

You may find the information you need is available on GOV.UK:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

If your enquiry is related to COVID- 19, you may also find the information
you need on GOV.UK
[2]https://www.gov.uk/search/guidance-and-r...
 

Campaigns  

We receive thousands of identical emails each month from organised
campaigns. Ministers and officials are made aware of these campaigns but
unfortunately, we cannot reply to each email individually.  

Postal enquiries  

As most of our staff are currently working from home, there may be
significant delays in responding to postal requests. Where possible,
please send your correspondence electronically and include the email
address you wish us to respond to.  

Reporting dead birds 

If you find dead wild waterfowl (swans, geese or ducks) or other dead wild
birds, such as gulls or birds of prey, you should report them to the Defra
helpline on 03459 33 55 77. Helpline opening hours are Monday to Friday
8:30am to 5pm. 

Further information can be found via the link:
[3]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influe...

Please note, we do not pass on the details of dead bird reports to the
relevant authority, and will not respond to reports sent to this mailbox. 

Notifiable animal diseases 

If you suspect a notifiable animal disease or have animal welfare
concerns, please report these to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
immediately. Failure to report a notifiable animal disease is an offence.
APHA can be contacted using the following details: 

England: 03000 200301 or [4][email address] 

Wales: 03003 038268 or [5][email address] 

Scotland: [6][email address] 

Interviews, university work and work experience 

The Department receives many requests for interviews, participation in
university work and work experience. Unfortunately, given resource
constraints and time pressures, we are unable to fulfil such requests and
will not respond to these emails. 

We recommend you visit the GOV.UK website and examine the material
available there. If after having examined this you still have specific,
targeted questions, please let us know and we shall endeavour to answer
them.  

Defra no longer runs a central placement scheme. We now advise all
applicants to write to their local offices requesting a placement as they
are arranged locally between student and prospective line manager:
[7]https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/findin...

Additionally, work experience for 18 to 24 year old’s will be advertised
on the Job Centre Plus website
[8]https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus 

Emergencies  

If you or someone you are contacting us on behalf of are currently at risk
of serious harm or in a life-threatening situation, please contact the
emergency services:  

999 for emergencies  

101 non-emergency police line 

111- NHS 

Best wishes,  

Ministerial Contact Unit  

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) This email and
any attachments is intended for the named recipient only. If you have
received it in error you have no authority to use, disclose, store or copy
any of its contents and you should destroy it and inform the sender.
Whilst this email and associated attachments will have been checked for
known viruses whilst within Defra systems we can accept no responsibility
once it has left our systems. Communications on Defra's computer systems
may be monitored and/or recorded to secure the effective operation of the
system and for other lawful purposes.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
2. https://www.gov.uk/search/guidance-and-r...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influe...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[email address]
7. https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/findin...
8. https://www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus

Dear Lucy Owens,

Thank you for your email which we received on the 29 September requesting
information.

We aim to answer your request no later than 27th October, which is 20
working days from the date we received it. If we are unable to meet this
deadline we will contact you to explain the reason.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact us.

Yours sincerely

Marie Davies

Information Rights Team

[email address]

Dear Lucy Owens,

Thank you for your request for information which we received on 29
September, about The future for food, farming and the environment. We are
handling your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We are writing to advise you that the time limit for responding to your
request for information under the FOIA needs to be extended.

The FOIA allows us 20 working days to respond to your request from the
date that we received it. However, section 10(3) of the FOIA provides
that, where we have to consider the balance of the public interest in
relation to a qualified exemption that applies to the requested
information, we can extend the 20-working-day time limit for issuing a
response until such time as is reasonable in the circumstances.

In this case, we regret that we must extend the time limit for responding
by 20 working days because the information requested is being considered
under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions to which the public interest
test applies. This means that we need to assess whether in all the
circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information it, and some
extra time is needed to determine this.

The particular qualified exemption we are considering in relation to your
request is section 43(2) of the FOIA, which relates to commercial
interests.

We can inform you that the extended deadline is 24 November 2021.

We attach an annex giving contact details should you be unhappy with the
service you have received.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Team

[email address]

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request you may make a complaint or appeal against our decision under
section 17(7) of the FOIA or under regulation 18 of the EIRs, as
applicable, within 40 working days of the date of this letter. Please
write to Andrew Mobsby, Head of Information Rights, Area 5B, Nobel House,
17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR (email:
[email address]) and he will arrange for an internal
review of your case. Details of Defra's complaints procedure are on our
website.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, section 50
of the FOIA and regulation 18 of the EIRs gives you the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please note that
generally the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you
have first exhausted Defra's own complaints procedure. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Dear Lucy Owens,

Please find attached the response to your request of 29th September for
information on The future for food, farming and the environment.

Yours sincerely

Guy Mawhinney

Information Rights Team

[email address]