This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Correspondance with food/beverage industry regarding reformulation'.


 
 
Freedom of Information Team  
 
Department of Health and Social Care  
 
39 Victoria Street 
 
London 
 
SW1H 0EU  
www.gov.uk/dhsc 
 
 
 
Ms Mhairi Brown 
request-743231-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 
 
5 May 2021 
 
Dear Ms Brown, 
 
Freedom of Information Request Reference FOI-1319946 
 
Thank you for your request dated 1 April 2021 in which you asked the Department of Health and 
Social Care (DHSC)
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Correspondence with food/beverage industry 
regarding reformulation 

Dear Department of Health and Social Care, 
I am writing, in accordance with Freedom of Information legislation, to request the release 
of the following: 

(1) Correspondence (electronic & hard copy/written) between senior officials within your 
Department and food/beverage corporations or trade bodies/associations on the topic of 
reformulation (i.e. salt, sugar and/or calorie reduction) and PHE's reformulation programme, 
since January 2016. 

(2) Minutes and attendee lists of meetings between senior officials within your Department 
and food/beverage corporations or trade bodies/associations on the topic of reformulation 
(i.e. salt, sugar and/or calorie reduction) and PHE's reformulation programme since January 
2016. 

If you feel that you can't answer my request on a reasonable timeframe, or the request is 
too broad, I would be grateful if you could contact me immediately and provide assistance 
as to how I could narrow down my request. 

If you have already released any of this information in response to another FOI request it 
would be helpful if you could share this too. 

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 
 
DHSC holds information relevant to your request. However, to comply with your request as it is 
currently framed would incur disproportionate cost as defined by Section 12(1) of the FOIA, which 
sets out that a public authority can refuse a request, if complying with it would exceed the 
appropriate limit of £600 (which represents 24 staff hours). This represents the estimated cost of 

one person spending this time in determining where the information is held, and locating, retrieving 
and extracting the information.   
 
The timeframe of your request is long, and would require all current and previous members of the 
relevant DHSC policy team (the Healthy Weight and Nutrition team) since January 2016 to search 
their folders to identify relevant documents. Searches would also be required in our central 
correspondence database, as food and drink manufacturers/trade bodies may have contacted the 
department via that route, and have received responses from our correspondence unit on behalf of 
officials. Furthermore, without uniquely identifiable keywords with which to carry out searches, an 
extremely large volume of information in relation to reformulation and PHE’s reformulation 
programme would need to be individually reviewed in order to determine if it would be within scope 
of your request, which we have assessed would exceed the section 12 cost limit.  
 
If you were to refine your request to within more specific margins, then we may be able to process 
it. For example, you may consider reducing the timeframe. We would also ask that you clarify that 
by ‘senior officials’ you are referring specifically to Senior Civil Servants. You may also consider 
outlining a particular aspect of reformulation and PHE’s reformulation programme that you are 
interested in (perhaps by identifying keywords), or particular food and drinks manufacturers or 
trade bodies, which would more easily enable us to search our records.  
 
However, we cannot guarantee that Section 12 or any other exemptions will not apply to a 
reframed request. I should also point out that whilst the relevant policy team at DHSC is the 
Healthy Weight and Nutrition team (as indicated above), reformulation policy is led by Public 
Health England, and DHSC does not answer FOI requests on their behalf.  
 
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to appeal by asking for 
an internal review. This should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter and sent to 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx, or to the address at the top of this letter. 
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communication. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may complain directly to the 
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you 
have already appealed our original response and received our internal review decision. You should 
raise your concerns with the ICO within three months of your last meaningful contact with us. 
 
The ICO can be contacted at:  
   
The Information Commissioner's Office  
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane  
Wilmslow 
Cheshire  
SK9 5AF  
 
https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Dorothy Crowe 
 
Freedom of Information Officer 
E: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx