Correspondence and meetings with food/beverage sector regarding the Childhood Obesity Plan (chapter 2)
Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
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 (excluding small businesses) or trade bodies on the topic of HM Government's Childhood Obesity Plan chapter 2, since January 2018.
(2) Minutes and attendee lists of meetings between senior officials within your Department and food/beverage corporations (excluding small businesses) or trade bodies on the topic of HM Government's Childhood Obesity Plan chapter 2, since January 2018.
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.
Many thanks for your time and attention to this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Kathrin Lauber
Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
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. 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....
We often 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 when such large volumes are
received.
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...
Dear Kathrin Lauber,
Thank you for your email of 12 July, requesting information on
Correspondence and meetings with food/beverage sector regarding ....
We aim to answer your request no later than 13th August, 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
Dear Kathrin Lauber,
Thank you for your request for information of 12th July, which we received
on 12 July, about Correspondence and meetings with food/beverage sector
regarding .... 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(s) outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information
it, and some extra time is needed to determine this.
The particular qualified exemptions we are considering in relation to your
request are section 35(1)(a) Formulation of Government Policy and section
43 Commercial Interests.
We hope to let you have a response by 10 September 2019 and will keep you
informed of any further delay.
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
Jo Collinge
Information Rights Team
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 Nick Teall, Head of Information Rights, Area 4A, 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 Kathrin Lauber,
Please find attached the response to your request of 12th July for
information on Correspondence and meetings with food/beverage sector
regarding ....
Yours sincerely
Jo Collinge
Information Rights Team
Dear Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs,
Thank you very much for your response to my FOI request.
With regard to the attached letter to the FDF (FOI2019 14926 Letter.pdf), can you please clarify why the FDF’s initial letter to Defra was not included? This appears within the scope of my initial request. Many thanks.
Yours faithfully,
Kathrin Lauber
Thank you for your email. We have a target of replying to emails within 15
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. 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....
We often 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 when such large volumes are
received.
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...
Dear Kathrin Lauber,
Thank you for your email which we received on 15 August, requesting an
Internal Review into the response to your request for information on
Childhood Obesity Plan (COP2).
We aim to answer your request no later than 11th October, which is 40
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
Dear Kathrin Lauber,
Please find attached the response to your request for an internal review
of 15th August for information on Childhood Obesity Plan (COP2).
Yours sincerely
Jo Collinge
Information Rights Team
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