Animal and Plant Health Agency
Access to Information Team
Woodham Lane
www.gov.uk/apha
New Haw
Addlestone
Surrey
KT15 3NB
Ms Buckley
Our ref: FOI2023/06742
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
27 April 2023
Dear Ms Buckley,
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: Brucella Canis testing
Thank you for your request for information of 3rd April about Brucella Canis testing. We
have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Your information request and our response are set out below.
“I would like to request the following:
1. The published methodology (including how the result is derived and converted into a
reportable result) for each of the following Brucella canis tests that you offer:
a. TC1542 Brucella canis RSA
b. TC1032 Brucella canis SAT
c. TC0867 Brucella canis ELISA
2. For each of the individual tests above, I would like to know:
a) The specificity
b) The sensitivity
2. The prevalence of the disease within the sample used to generate these values.
3. The test that was used to validate these against.
4. As veterinary professionals are expected to practice evidence-based medicine, it is
expected that a clinician should be able to assess the validity of the test(s) and then use
this to determine the value of the test in determining care for the individual patient in front
of them. Therefore, I would be grateful if you would also publish (for each of these tests)
a normogram that reports the likelihood ratio across a range of prevalances from 0.01%
- 100%.
5. I would also like a copy of the mathematical calculations used to to determine the
combined sensitivity and specificity values when testing a dog for Brucella canis using
your recommended combined approach (i.e. Elisa and SAT). Please also confirm the
sensitivity and specificity values that you are currently (as of 0.04.2023) providing
veterinary professionals with, and indicate if this has changed in the last 12 months.
6. For (5) I would also like a copy of the assumptions that must hold in order for using the
APHA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and also works on behalf of the Scottish
Government, Welsh Government and Food Standards Agency to safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of people, the
environment and the economy.
combined values to be valid.”
The information you have requested has been exempted from release citing the following
exemption Section 22 of the Freedom of information Act (FOIA) 2000.
Section 22 - Information intended for future publication
This exemption requires a public interest test.
Public interest test
APHA have concluded that the public interest in withholding the information sought
outweighs the public interest in its disclosure. Releasing information now before it has
been finalised would be misleading to the public and this would contradict the principles
behind Freedom of Information. It is in the public interest to wait until the information has
been collected, assessed and quality checked rather than to release the information in a
piecemeal fashion. Given the importance of publishing only appropriately collated and
checked figures, it is reasonable to expect that this information should be published in
line with accepted practice rather than disclosed before official publication. The
anticipated peer review submission is to take place in the next few months.
Information disclosed in response to this FOI request is releasable to the public. In
keeping with the spirit and effect of the FOIA and the government’s Transparency
Agenda, this letter and the information disclosed to you may be placed o
n GOV.UK,
together with any related information that wil provide a key to its wider context. No
information identifying you wil be placed on the GOV.UK website.
We attach an Annex explaining the copyright that applies to the information being
released to you and contact details should you be unhappy with the service you have
received.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact the Access to Information Team
at the email address below.
Yours sincerely
Access to Information Team
xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
APHA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and also works on behalf of the Scottish
Government, Welsh Government and Food Standards Agency to safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of people, the
environment and the economy
Annex
Copyright
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to
use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research,
and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents
(except photographs or logos) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission
for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication,
would require the permission of the copyright holder.
Most documents produced by APHA wil be protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown
copyright information can be re-used under the
Open Government Licence. For
information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see
The National Archives website.
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining
permission from a third party see the
Intellectual Property Office’s website.
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 11 of the EIRs, as applicable, within 40 working days of the date of this
letter. Please email xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx and the team wil arrange for an internal
review of your case.
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’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Please note that generally the ICO cannot
make a decision unless you have first exhausted APHA’s own complaints procedure.
ICO can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Please click
here for further contact details.
APHA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and also works on behalf of the Scottish
Government, Welsh Government and Food Standards Agency to safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of people, the
environment and the economy
