Guidance formerly issued under S.1A Weeds Act 1959 - HSE involvement

Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

A person on Social Media claiming to be a retired civil servant, has asserted that:
"When in HSE I helped colleagues in Defra develop the guidance on the control of ragwort from the Code of Practice."

I require:
Copies of all communications (including, but not limited to letters, emails, meeting notes) between the Department and the Health and Safety Executive regarding the formulation of the guidance made under Section 1A Weeds Acts 1959, including any communications in regard of subsequent revisions before said guidance was withdrawn on 24 May 2016.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours faithfully,

Bill Ellson

SM-Defra-Helpline, Defra (MCU), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs



Thank you for your email to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs. 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 are receiving a high number of correspondence
during the COVID-19 outbreak which may mean a delay in response times.

 

If you need a reply before then, please call the Defra Helpline on 03459
33 55 77, or visit
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
as information is updated regularly.

 

If your enquiry is related to COVID- 19, please check our guidance page
first before you contact us -
[2]https://www.gov.uk/search/guidance-and-r...

 

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

 

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 [3][email address]

·         Wales: 03003 038268 or [4][email address]

·         Scotland: [5][email address]

 

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.

 

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. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]

Defra Information Rights Team,

Dear Mr Ellson,

Thank you for your email which we received on the 3 April requesting
information.

We aim to answer your request no later than 4th May, 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

Information Rights Team

[email address]

Defra Information Rights Team,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Ellson,

Please find attached the response to your request of 3rd April for
information on Guidance formerly issued under S.1A Weeds Act 1959.

Yours sincerely

Guy Mawhinney

Information Rights Team

[email address]