Please note this is an auto reply message.

Thank you – the Environment Agency has received your email.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which is affecting staff and
resources within the Environment Agency, we may take longer than the
normal 10 working days we aim to reply by.

Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations state
that a public authority must respond to requests for information within 20
working days.

However due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting staff and resources
we may take longer than the 20 working days to reply. We will aim to
provide an answer as soon as we can.  

For information on what you can expect from us and our full service
commitment to you then please visit our website: 

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

If you have made a data request, you may wish to look at
[2]www.data.gov.uk to see if the data you have requested is available
online.
  

Usually we make no charge for providing information. In some cases we may
make a charge for licensed re-use of our data. Where this is the case, we
will notify you in advance.

If you have provided any personal information (also called personal data)
in your enquiry, the Environment Agency will follow all applicable UK and
EU data protection laws in how we treat it. We may use your information to
help you with your enquiry, if necessary. More details on your rights and
how we will process your personal information can be found in our Personal
Information Charter:

[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc. then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:

[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

Kind Regards,

National Customer Contact Centre - Part of National Operations Services

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [5]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

Click an icon to keep in touch with us:-

[6]cid:image001.gif@01D572CA.A26165F0[7]cid:image002.gif@01D572CA.A26165F0[8]cid:image003.gif@01D572CA.A26165F0[9]cid:image004.gif@01D572CA.A26165F0[10]cid:image005.gif@01D572CA.A26165F0

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We
have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this
message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of
Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and
attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be
accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
purposes.

References

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Ref: 201204/HF14
Good Morning

I have passed your e-mail to the Thames Waterways team who will deal with your request.

The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations state that a public authority must respond to requests for information within 20 working days.

However due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting staff and resources we may take longer than the 20 working days to reply. We will aim to provide an answer as soon as we can.

You can find more information about our service commitment by clicking on the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Kind Regards
National Customer Email Team
Contact Centre Services - Part of Operations, Regulation & Customer
Environment Agency

Tel: 03708 506 506
Web Site: www.gov.uk/environment-agency

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Mercer,

Reference: THM196423

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request of 02 December 2020.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in processing your request. We
are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of enquiries and our
working patterns continue to be disrupted due to the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.

We will aim to respond to your request by 18 January 2021.

Kind regards,

Customers & Engagement - Thames

( External: 0203 025 9804
8 [1][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

show quoted sections

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

In line with latest government advice on Coronavirus most of our teams are
now working from home and where necessary may be managing childcare or
self-isolating. This means we have less staff available than we would
normally. 

We are currently directing our efforts to our role as a first responder
under the Civil Contingencies Act - maintaining critical operations and
infrastructure and playing our part in the government’s efforts to deliver
key public services.

In recognition of the situation, the Office for the Information
Commissioner has accepted that public authorities might not be able to
meet the statutory 20 working day timescale for responses to requests for
information. If we are unable to provide an answer to your enquiry within
the statutory timeframe, we will let you know as soon as possible, along
with our reason why.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging
times.

Standard response times

If you have contacted us to make a complaint about the Environment Agency
or our staff, we aim to respond within 10 working days.

If you have sent an information request under the ‘Freedom of Information
Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we aim to respond within
20 working days. 

Any General enquiries, we aim to respond within 20 working days. 

You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to see if the data you have
requested is available online.

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc., then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

Kind Regards

Thames Area Customers & Engagement Team

   
   
( 020 3025 9804

8  
[5][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,  
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

[6]cid:image002.gif@01D5B67A.711EFFE0

[7]cid:image002.png@01D61C78.494F10E0

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We
have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this
message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of
Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and
attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be
accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
purposes.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.data.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
4. https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://floodsdestroy.campaign.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Mercer,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request.

Please be assured we are working on your request, however, a number of our
staff are busy responding to flooding incidents as a result of recent
heavy rainfall. We are therefore  unable to guarantee a response today,
but will provide a full response to your request as soon as we are able to
do so.

Kind regards,

Customers & Engagement - Thames

( External: 0203 025 9804
8 [1][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

show quoted sections

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

In line with latest government advice on Coronavirus most of our teams are
now working from home and where necessary may be managing childcare or
self-isolating. This means we have less staff available than we would
normally. 

We are currently directing our efforts to our role as a first responder
under the Civil Contingencies Act - maintaining critical operations and
infrastructure and playing our part in the government’s efforts to deliver
key public services.

In recognition of the situation, the Office for the Information
Commissioner has accepted that public authorities might not be able to
meet the statutory 20 working day timescale for responses to requests for
information. If we are unable to provide an answer to your enquiry within
the statutory timeframe, we will let you know as soon as possible, along
with our reason why.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging
times.

Standard response times

If you have contacted us to make a complaint about the Environment Agency
or our staff, we aim to respond within 10 working days.

If you have sent an information request under the ‘Freedom of Information
Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we aim to respond within
20 working days. 

Any General enquiries, we aim to respond within 20 working days. 

You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to see if the data you have
requested is available online.

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc., then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

Kind Regards

Thames Area Customers & Engagement Team

   
   
( 020 3025 9804

8  
[5][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,  
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

[6]cid:image002.gif@01D5B67A.711EFFE0

[7]cid:image002.png@01D61C78.494F10E0

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We
have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this
message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of
Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and
attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be
accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
purposes.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.data.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
4. https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://floodsdestroy.campaign.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Mercer

Re: Request for information regarding the contract for managing boats
moored to Environment Agency Land; Our reference THM196423

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 02 December 2020  for
a full and unredacted copy of the contract made between the Environment
Agency and District Enforcement Ltd for management of boats moored to
Environment Agency land.

We apologise for the delay in responding to your request.

We respond to requests for recorded information that we hold under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the associated Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

Please find attached the following documents:

·        Conditions of Contract_Thames Mooring contract October 2020

·        Request For Quotation

Please refer to our Open Government Licence for the permitted use of the
supplied data:
[1]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

We are not currently in a positon to disclose the remaining specification
documents. We are seeking advice on whether these contain any commercially
sensitive information which we may need to consider withholding if we
assess that exemptions to disclosure apply under regulation 12(5)(e) of
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. We will be back in touch
with you in due course regarding disclosure of these documents.

Kind regards,

Customers & Engagement - Thames

( External: 0203 025 9804
8 [2][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

show quoted sections

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

In line with latest government advice on Coronavirus most of our teams are
now working from home and where necessary may be managing childcare or
self-isolating. This means we have less staff available than we would
normally. 

We are currently directing our efforts to our role as a first responder
under the Civil Contingencies Act - maintaining critical operations and
infrastructure and playing our part in the government’s efforts to deliver
key public services.

In recognition of the situation, the Office for the Information
Commissioner has accepted that public authorities might not be able to
meet the statutory 20 working day timescale for responses to requests for
information. If we are unable to provide an answer to your enquiry within
the statutory timeframe, we will let you know as soon as possible, along
with our reason why.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging
times.

Standard response times

If you have contacted us to make a complaint about the Environment Agency
or our staff, we aim to respond within 10 working days.

If you have sent an information request under the ‘Freedom of Information
Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we aim to respond within
20 working days. 

Any General enquiries, we aim to respond within 20 working days. 

You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to see if the data you have
requested is available online.

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc., then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

Kind Regards

Thames Area Customers & Engagement Team

   
   
( 020 3025 9804

8  
[5][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,  
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

[6]cid:image002.gif@01D5B67A.711EFFE0

[7]cid:image002.png@01D61C78.494F10E0

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We
have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this
message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of
Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and
attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be
accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
purposes.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.data.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
4. https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://floodsdestroy.campaign.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Mercer

Re: Request for information regarding the contract for managing boats
moored to Environment Agency Land; Our reference THM196423

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 02 December 2020  for
a full and unredacted copy of the contract made between the Environment
Agency and District Enforcement Ltd for management of boats moored to
Environment Agency land.

We apologise for the delay in responding to your request.

We respond to requests for recorded information that we hold under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the associated Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

You can download the requested documents via the following Sharefile link:

[1]https://ea.sharefile.com/d-s0be4a0d76cd8...

Please note this link will expire after 30 days.

The following documents are provided:

·        Conditions of Contract_Thames Mooring contract October 2020

·        Request For Quotation

·        Response to our Request for Quotation

·        Tender clarification questions

·        Thames Mooring_Award letter

Please refer to our Open Government Licence for the permitted use of the
supplied data:
[2]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

Some information has been redacted from the following documents as we
consider it to be commercially sensitive:

·        Response to our Request for Quotation

·        Tender clarification questions

·        Thames Mooring_Award letter

We are therefore refusing to disclose this environmental information
requested because we have assessed exemptions to disclosure apply under
regulation 12(5)(e) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. As
a public body we are required under the Freedom of Information
Act/Environmental Information Regulations to give reasons for this
refusal.  We also need to show that we have considered the Public Interest
balance between refusal and disclosure.  You can find the details in the
appendix attached.

As we explained at the time, the internal review we carried out into our
response to your previous request for a copy of the contract between
ourselves and Thames Visitor Moorings, found that we were correct to
withhold some information as being commercially sensitive when we provided
our initial response. When reviewed at a later date, we considered that a
sufficient period of time had elapsed to enable the information to be
shared. We have redacted some of the information in the current contract
documentation on the same basis, which is that at the present time it is
commercially sensitive and therefore exempt under Regulation 12(5)(e) of
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Please note the personal data of any third parties has also been redacted
from these documents. The Environment Agency is not able to disclose the
names of individuals who have communicated with the Environment Agency as
this is personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and to
disclose it would breach the First Data Protection Principle of the DPA
2018. 

The information requested is therefore exempt due to Regulation 13(1) of
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which explains that:

“To the extent that the information requested includes personal data of
which the applicant is not the data subject, a public authority must not
disclose the personal data if—

(a) the first condition is satisfied…”

The ‘first condition’ referred to above is further explained in Regulation
13(2A):

“The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member
of the public otherwise than under these Regulations—

(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles…”

The First Data Protection Principle requires that we are fair to
individuals when we collect and use their personal data.  In this case it
would be unfair to disclose information relating to an identifiable
individual as such individuals have a reasonable expectation that any
information held about them by the Environment Agency would remain
confidential. There is no requirement to conduct a public interest test
when refusing on this ground. 

I hope we have correctly interpreted your request.

If you are not satisfied you can contact us within 2 calendar months to
ask for our decision to be reviewed. We shall review our response to your
request and give you our decision in writing within 40 working days.

If you are still not satisfied following this, you can raise a concern
with the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator for
Freedom of Information and the Environmental Information Regulations.  The
contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: [3]http://ico.org.uk

Kind regards,

Customers & Engagement - Thames

( External: 0203 025 9804
8 [4][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

Annex

Relevant exceptions

The exceptions that apply to the withheld information are:

Regulation 12(5)(e) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004

EIR Regulation 12(5)(e) applies to the contract documents because
disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or
industrial information where such confidentiality is provided by law to
protect a legitimate economic interest.

The Public Interest Test  

We have weighed the public interest factors in favour of maintaining the
exceptions and find that they outweigh the public interest factors in
disclosing the information. In carrying out the public interest test we
have considered:  

1. Factors in favour of releasing the information: 

·                  General presumption of openness. The Environment Agency
would only withhold information if it is sure that disclosure would cause
substantial harm.

·                  General need to promote accountability and
transparency. 

·                  Whether the information is already public. In this
instance the information requested is not currently in the public domain.

·                  Contribution to sustainable development or public
health and safety. The interest here is in ensuring that the best
environmental options are being selected for this subject matter.

2. Factors in favour of withholding the information: 

·                  Prejudicing the effective running of the Environment
Agency or other public bodies due to the release of commercially sensitive
information.  

·                 Whether any other laws or legal principles would be
compromised. Disclosure of commercially sensitive information would
adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or industrial
information where such confidentiality is provided by law to protect a
legitimate economic interest. The adverse effect is disclosure would give
unfair advantage to other companies taking part in future tenders.

As indicated, upon assessing the factors in the public interest test, we
have assessed that in relation to some information contained within the
contract specification documents, and in relation to the commercially
confidential exceptions, we find that the factors in favour of withholding
information outweigh the public interest factors in disclosing the
information.  

From: Enquiries_THM
Sent: 16 February 2021 09:50
To: [FOI #710597 email]
Subject: THM196423 - WW2020-1835 - 201204/HF14 Freedom of Information
request - Environment Agency Short-Stay Moorings on River Thames

Dear Mr Mercer

Re: Request for information regarding the contract for managing boats
moored to Environment Agency Land; Our reference THM196423

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 02 December 2020  for
a full and unredacted copy of the contract made between the Environment
Agency and District Enforcement Ltd for management of boats moored to
Environment Agency land.

We apologise for the delay in responding to your request.

We respond to requests for recorded information that we hold under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the associated Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

Please find attached the following documents:

·        Conditions of Contract_Thames Mooring contract October 2020

·        Request For Quotation

Please refer to our Open Government Licence for the permitted use of the
supplied data:
[5]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

We are not currently in a positon to disclose the remaining specification
documents. We are seeking advice on whether these contain any commercially
sensitive information which we may need to consider withholding if we
assess that exemptions to disclosure apply under regulation 12(5)(e) of
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. We will be back in touch
with you in due course regarding disclosure of these documents.

Kind regards,

Customers & Engagement - Thames

( External: 0203 025 9804
8 [6][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

show quoted sections

[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D14A22.70FC2010

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you – The Environment Agency has received your email.

Standard response times

If you have contacted us to make a complaint about the Environment Agency
or our staff, we aim to respond within 10 working days.

If you have sent an information request under the ‘Freedom of Information
Act’ or ’Environmental Information Regulations’ we aim to respond within
20 working days. 

Any General enquiries, we aim to respond within 20 working days. 

You may wish to look at [2]www.data.gov.uk to see if the data you have
requested is available online.

For further information on what you can expect from us and our full
service commitment to you, please click this link;
[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Environmental Incident

If your email was to report an environmental incident i.e. pollution, fish
in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc., then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   

For more details about incident reporting please see our website:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

Kind Regards

Thames Area Customers & Engagement Team

   
   
( 020 3025 9804

8  
[5][email address]
+ Environment Agency | Red Kite House,  
Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BD

[6]cid:image002.gif@01D5B67A.711EFFE0

[7]cid:image002.png@01D61C78.494F10E0

Information in this message may be confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
the sender immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. We
have checked this email and its attachments for viruses. But you should
still check any attachment before opening it. We may have to make this
message and any reply to it public if asked to under the Freedom of
Information Act, Data Protection Act or for litigation. Email messages and
attachments sent to or from any Environment Agency address may also be
accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
purposes.

References

Visible links
2. http://www.data.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
4. https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. https://floodsdestroy.campaign.gov.uk/