TB Advisory Service funding

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,

The TB Advisory Servicehttps://www.tbas.org.uk/
is funded by DEFRA.

Please provide all information held about the terms of the funding.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Smith

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 Mark Smith,

Thank you for your email of 14 October requesting information.

We aim to answer your request no later than 11 November 2020, 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]

SM-Defra-Information Requests (DEFRA), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dear Mark Smith,

 

Following on from our acknowledgement below we can confirm that your
request has been passed to our executive agency the Rural Payments Agency
(RPA) to manage. They will be responding directly and should you wish to
contact them please email: [1][email address]

 

Kind regards

 

 

Information Rights Team

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

 

Email: [2]Information [email address]

Address: Area 1E, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

 

 

 

 

From: Defra Information Rights Team [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: 15 October 2020 12:49
To: [FOI #698715 email]
Subject: Request acknowledgement: TB Advisory Service funding
(FOI2020/27462)

 

Dear Mark Smith,

Thank you for your email of 14 October requesting information.

We aim to answer your request no later than 11 November 2020, 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

[3][email address]

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. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]

Information Rights Team, RPA,

1 Attachment

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26 October 2020
Our ref: RFI 5622
 
 
Dear Mark Smith,
 
Environmental Information Regulations – Acknowledgment
       
Thank you for your request for information on 14 October which is being
considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
 
Please note that if our search returns any information which relates to a
third party, we may write to them to inform them of the request and ask
whether they have any objections to the disclosure of their information,
particularly as disclosures made under EIR are publicly available.
 
Before we proceed, please can you advise us if you have any objections to
this or if you are content with us to proceed with this course of action?
 
To advise; we do not disclose your details to the third party, just the
details of the information requested.
 
We normally expect to respond to requests within 20 working days.
 
If you need further information
If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[1][email address].
 
You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[2]Personal Information Charter and [3]RPA Privacy notices on [4]GOV.UK
 
Yours sincerely
 
Information Rights Team

About this email
This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently please allow for this
to take effect. 
 
Security 
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.
 
Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer. 
 
The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
to this message after it was sent. 
While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard and you should carry out appropriate virus
and other checks.

 
 

show quoted sections

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Dear Information Rights Team, RPA,

I have no objections to the course of action you suggest.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Smith

Information Rights Team, RPA,

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1 December 2020
Our ref: RFI 5622
 
Dear Mr Smith
 
Environmental Information Regulations – Holding Response
We do regret that the time limit for responding has exceeded the
legislative deadline, and apologise for the delay in providing you with a
full response.
Regrettably, we are not yet in a position to provide a full response to
your request for information which either provides the information or
details our reasons for not providing the information requested under one
or more of the exceptions listed in the Regulations.
 
Please be assured that your request is being reviewed and we aim to
provide a response to you as soon as possible.
 
If you need further information
If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[1][email address].
 
You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[2]Personal Information Charter and [3]RPA Privacy notices on [4]GOV.UK
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Information Rights Team

About this email
This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently please allow for this
to take effect. 
 
Security 
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.
 
Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer. 
 
The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
to this message after it was sent. 
While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard and you should carry out appropriate virus
and other checks.

 
 

show quoted sections

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Dear Information Rights Team, RPA,

Just a polite reminder that this request is overdue. I was hoping it would be fairly straightforward to access the information requested, as the terms of the grant would have been discussed and shared between parties before it was given.
Are you able to give me any indication of a time frame in which my request will be processed please?

Yours sincerely,

Mark Smith

Information Rights Team, RPA,

2 Attachments

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[1][FOI #698715 email]  

 
11 December 2020

Our ref: RFI 5622

Dear Mr Smith,

Environmental Information Regulations – Information Request

We refer to your request for information dated 15 October which we have
dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing you with a full
response.

 

You have requested all information held about the terms of the funding
of the TB Advisory Service.Please find the information you have
requested attached.

 

You will notice that we have redacted (blacked out) the following
information:

 

 1. The names and contact details of RPA and WestPoint employees.

Unfortuntely we are unable to divulge this information as the exception
to the duty to disclose environmental information set out in Regulation
12(3) (Personal Information) of the EIR applies.

 

Under EIR, if the information is the personal data of a person other
than the applicant, information should not be disclosed other than in
specific circumstances set out in Regulation 13 of EIR, none of which
apply here. The RPA considers any information which could identify a
living individual, to be personal data.

 

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Data Protection Act
(DPA) 2018 defines personal data as follows:

 

‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or
identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural
person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in
particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an
identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or
more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental,
economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;’

 

As the information requested is the personal data of another party we
should consider whether disclosure would breach the data protection
principles at Article 5 of GDPR.

 

We consider that the first data protection principle (Article 5 1. (a)
of GDPR) would be breached if the requested information was disclosed.
It states:

 

1. Personal data shall be:

(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation
to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’)

 

When considering whether disclosure of information is a breach of the
above principle (a), we should first consider whether disclosure is
lawful and then whether it is fair.

 

Article 6 1. (a) of GDPR states:

 

1. Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that:

(a) the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her
personal data for one or more specific purposes;

We consider that, in the absence of consent from the data subject it
would not be lawful (or fair) to disclose the requested information and
the only condition in Article 6 which could have any relevance to
disclosure, is principle (f):

 

(f) processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests
pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such
interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and
freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data,
in particular where the data subject is a child.

 

In this context, the legitimate interests of a third party are held to
be the legitimate interests of the public at large rather than a
particular individual. Having considered the balance between the
legitimate interests of the public at large and the rights or legitimate
interests of the data subject we do not consider that the information
should be released. This is because:

 

·         There is insufficient general public interest in the level of
detail you are requesting to be released to justify the disclosure; and

 

·         The data subject has not given permission to share their data
with the public at large and the data release would therefore be unfair
and incompatible with the purpose of which it was collected.
 
 

 2. Information provided by WestPoint as part of the tendering process.

 

Following careful consideration we are unable to divulge this
information for the reasons set out below.

 

Regulation 12(5)(e) exempts disclosure of commercially confidential
information.

 

This exemption is engaged when information is commercial in nature and
is also confidential under either the common-law of confidence or
contract which protects a legitimate economic interest where the
confidentiality of disclosure will be would be adversely affected.

 

As your request covers information about the tender submitted by
WestPoint, it includes information which is at its core commercial in
nature and is covered by a common-law of confidence, in that this
information is not trivial and for public consumption. Also this
information is held by the RPA and there is an expectation it would not
be shared with any other party and held in confidence. 

 

In applying this exception, we have had to balance the public interest
in maintaining the exceptions against the public interest in disclosure.
We have taken account of the presumption in favour of disclosure as
required by regulation 12(2) of the EIR.

 

We recognise that there is a public interest in information about the
activities of regulatory bodies as it is in the public interest to
facilitate the accountability and transparency of public authorities for
decisions taken by them, and for their spending of public money. Such
transparency assists individuals in understanding decisions made by
public authorities affecting their lives and, in some cases, in
challenging those decisions.

 

Conversely, the disclosure of such information could allow others to
gain access to commercial information, potentially causing a prejudicial
impact on the commercial interests of a company which may potentially
disadvantage them. Disclosing information of this sort could also
potentially expose the company further by placing details of their
accounts and assets in the public domain, and in this instance, allowing
alternative suppliers to gain an unfair advantage in any future
tendering process.

 

Disclosure could also undermine our relationship with Westpoint as it
would inhibit the effective management of our schemes including any
decisions made or information provided in confidence. The RPA has a duty
to protect the integrity of confidential information by not placing it
in the public domain.

 

Therefore, there is a strong public interest to ensure, that where there
is no valid justification for release, we would not place commercially
sensitive information in the public domain which would cause harm to the
legitimate economic interests of that company or undermine the RPA’s
tendering process.

 

For the above reasons the RPA considers that the weight of public
interest lies in withholding the information requested.

 

What you need to do

If you are not happy with the way we have handled your request, you can
ask for an internal review. These requests should be submitted in
writing within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original request and should be addressed to the Information Rights Team
at the Rural Payments Agency, North Gate House, 21-23 Valpy Street,
Reading, RG1 1AF or alternatively email your request for a review to
[2][email address]

 

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. Please note that generally the Information Commissioner cannot
make a decision unless you have first exhausted RPA’s own complaints
procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
[3]Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

If you need further information

If you have any questions about this email, you can contact us by email
[4][email address].

 

You can find more information on how we handle personal data in our
[5]Personal Information Charter and [6]RPA Privacy notices on [7]GOV.UK

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Team

Rural Payments Agency | North Gate House | Reading | RG1 1AF

Tel: 03300 416502 | Fax: 03300 416574 | Email: [8][email address]

Follow us on Twitter @Ruralpay
   

About this email

This email has been sent to you because the email address has been
provided to us. If you no longer wish to be contacted electronically,
please let us know. If you have done this recently please allow for this
to take effect. 

 

Security 
Please be on your guard against emails that request any of your security
details. We will never ask you by email to enter (or record) these
details. If you receive an email like this, you should not respond.

 

Legal
This email message is confidential and for use by the addressee only. If
the message is received by anyone other than the addressee, please delete
it from your computer. 

 

The Rural Payments Agency does not accept responsibility for changes made
to this message after it was sent. 

While all reasonable care has been taken to avoid the transmission of
viruses, it is your responsibility to ensure that onward transmission,
opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely
affect your systems or data. No responsibility is accepted by the Rural
Payments Agency in this regard and you should carry out appropriate virus
and other checks.

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #698715 email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://ico.org.uk/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
6. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rpa-privacy-...
7. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
8. mailto:[email address]