Prosecutions by the EA under EPA S33 including ones for fly-tipping

The request was refused by Environment Agency.

Dear Environment Agency,

In answer to a previous request, https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f... , you kindly provided me with a copy of NR72927 S33 prosecutions 2016 17-2.xls

1. Could you please provide the same information covering 2017/18 and 2018?19

2. If not showing can you please identify which prosecutions were for fly-tipping if necessary by checking the individual case files.

Referring to https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk....

Could you please provide breakdown of the 113 prosecutions referred to in para 1.4 by offence including fly-tipping?

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

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Thank you – the Environment Agency has received your email.

 

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National Requests, Environment Agency

Dear Peter

 

We are treating your enquiry as an Information Request under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004/Freedom of Information Act
2000.

 

Your request will be dealt with by our National Request Team under
reference NR148495.

 

The Environment Agency covers England only.

 

For Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, please see the links below:

 

[1]http://www.sepa.org.uk/

 

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in your enquiry, the Environment Agency will follow all applicable UK and
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help you with your enquiry, if necessary.

 

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information can be found in our Personal Information Charter at the link
below :

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The Environment Agency’s obligation under the relevant legislation is to
provide you with the requested information within 20 working days from the
date your enquiry is received, but we shall endeavour to respond as soon
as we can.

 

In the meantime should you have any queries regarding this request please
contact us at: [5][email address]

 

Kind regards,

 

National Request Team

National Customer Contact Centre

Tel 03708 506 506

 

 

 

show quoted sections

National Requests, Environment Agency

7 Attachments

Dear Peter,

 

Enquiry regarding environmental information.

 

Thank you for your enquiry which was received on October 28

 

We respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

We have created 2 reports in response to this query, both attached.

 

The attached report with the title “Prosecutions 2018” responds to the
question about the 113 prosecutions in our recent RPEG report.

The number of cases now reported and the amount of fines have now
increased as cases in the pipeline have been added to the database since
the report data was originally compiled.

A column in this report shows which cases related to illegal dumping.

The ones so noted include any which might be regarded as fly tipping
cases, although we do not use this term in our data.

The vast majority of fly tipping enforcement is carried out by local
government and is not recorded on our database.

 

The other report attached shows Environmental Protection Act 1990
prosecutions for the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19.

 

In both reports the identities of individual defendants have been
anonymised in accordance with data protection requirements.

 

Please refer to [1]Open Government Licence which explains the permitted
use of this information.

 

Please get in touch if you have any further queries or contact us within
two months if you’d like us to review the information we have sent.

 

 

Kind Regards

 

National Request Team

Environment Agency

03708 506506

 

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Dear Environment Agency,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Environment Agency's handling of my FOI request 'Prosecutions by the EA under EPA S33 including ones for fly-tipping'.

In my request I wrote:
-------------------------
Dear Environment Agency,

In answer to a previous request, https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f... , you kindly provided me with a copy of NR72927 S33 prosecutions 2016 17-2.xls

1. Could you please provide the same information covering 2017/18 and 2018?19

2. If not showing can you please identify which prosecutions were for fly-tipping if necessary by checking the individual case files.

Referring to https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk....

Could you please provide breakdown of the 113 prosecutions referred to in para 1.4 by offence including fly-tipping?
-----------------------

Complaint

I will refer to the last sentence a request item 3

1. You have provided me with the information. Thank You.

2. You have NOT identified which prosecutions were for fly-tipping (if necessary by checking the individual case files)

3. You have provided a breakdown of the 113 prosecutions according to the relevant section of the appropriate act of parliament BUT NOT identified which where for fly-tipping .

You identified 11 prosecutions as being in respect to "illegal dumping" but in all cases, apart from one, the industry sector was shown as Waste Management - either "transfer stations" or "other".

The 4 cases listed after line 488 were also in respect to offences under EPA S34 which I believe would not be applicable to anyone caught physical fly-tipping.

Identifying a case as "illegal dumping" is not therefore a sufficient indicator that it is one of "fly-tipping".

Please provide the missing information.

--------

Follow up Information Request

Could you please provide me with a copy of the NIRS reports for those prosecutions you have listed as illegal dumping which are also shown as NIRS incidents.

----------------

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

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Thank you – the Environment Agency has received your email.

 

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in your enquiry, the Environment Agency will follow all applicable UK and
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how we will process your personal information can be found in our Personal
Information Charter:

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in distress, dumping of hazardous waste etc. then please call our
Freephone 24 hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.   For more details
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[3]https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environment...

 

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: Web Site: [4]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

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Dear Environment Agency,

Request for further information 2

In the spreadsheet you kindly provided EA-Dumping_stats_Follow-up-to_NR72927_Prosecutions_2018 please refer to the prosecution on lines 335-337 [Cumbria and Lancashire / illegal dumping , fine £562]

Please check the case files and say whether or not this was in respect to fly-tipping

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

Please note this is an auto reply message.

 

Thank you – the Environment Agency has received your email.

 

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...

 

Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations state
that a public authority must respond to requests for information within 20
working days however we always aim to provide an answer as soon as we can.
 

 

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:

[2]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:

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

 

Kind Regards,

 

National Customer Contact Centre - Part of National Operations Services

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [4]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

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Enquiries, Unit, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

 Dear Peter,

 

I have passed your e-mail to the local customer 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, but we aim to respond to all enquiries as quickly
as we can.

 

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

 

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

 

You can contact our customer team directly on the contact details below,
or call the National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506506 who will
transfer you to the area team. 

 

Please quote your enquiry reference 191113/AC07 in any correspondence with
us regarding this matter.  

 

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Cumbria and Lancashire Area
Lutra House
Dodd Way
Walton Summit
Bamber Bridge
PRESTON
PR5 8BX

 

Yours sincerely,

 

National Customer Email Team

Customer Contact Centre

Environment Agency

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [2]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

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CMBLNC Info Requests, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

Dear Peter

Thank you for your email of 13 November 2019 in which you ask for more
details about a request you made under NR72927 in 2018.  Unfortunately in
line with the Environment Agency’s retention schedule we only keep
information request for one year.  The number you have quoted goes back
nearly two years. 

 

In order to help you further I will need a copy of the table that was sent
to you so that I can log the request as new and start again.

 

Regards

 

Customer and Engagement Team

Cumbria and Lancashire

 

From: Enquiries, Unit
Sent: 13 November 2019 10:40
To: Peter Silverman <[FOI #616031 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Prosecutions by the EA under
EPA S33 including ones for fly-tipping

 

 Dear Peter,

 

I have passed your e-mail to the local customer 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, but we aim to respond to all enquiries as quickly
as we can.

 

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

 

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

 

You can contact our customer team directly on the contact details below,
or call the National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506506 who will
transfer you to the area team. 

 

Please quote your enquiry reference 191113/AC07 in any correspondence with
us regarding this matter.  

 

Customers and Engagement
Environment Agency
Cumbria and Lancashire Area
Lutra House
Dodd Way
Walton Summit
Bamber Bridge
PRESTON
PR5 8BX

 

Yours sincerely,

 

National Customer Email Team

Customer Contact Centre

Environment Agency

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [2]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

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show quoted sections

Dear CMBLNC Info Requests,

Thank you for your communication of 14th November asking for a copy of the table that was sent
to you.

Please accept my apologies for the rather confusing communication of 12th November. Please ignore it and substitute the following:

—————

Request for further information - 2

Please refer to your communication above of 7th November in particular the last attachment (open “Show all attachments” to see it) entitled “Follow up to NR72927 Prosecutions 2018.xls”

Down load this spreadsheet and go to rows 337 - 339. This represents one Court case. To help you check you have the right one the fine was £526 and the area was Cumbria and Lancashire. (I have found it easier to read the spreadsheet if you narrow down the columns)

Can you please check the files for this case and tell me whether or not the fine was for fly-tipping as opposed to other types of illegal dumping.
-------------------
Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Peter Silverman

National Requests, Environment Agency

5 Attachments

Dear Mr Silverman,

 

RE: Request for a review of a response to an information request under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) / Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR).

 

Thank you for your email which was received on 11 November 2019. We are
treating your email as a request to review our response to your enquiry
NR148495.

 

We are required to provide you with a response to your request for a
review within a maximum of 40 working days which we calculate to be 9^th
January 2020.  However, we will try to respond to you well before this
date.

 

With thanks

 

National Request Team

National Customer Contact Centre

Environment Agency

 

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [1]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

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show quoted sections

CMBLNC Info Requests, Environment Agency

Dear Peter

I have now heard back from the National Team who provided you with the data for your request.

They confirm that having looked at the case in point, the offence charged was for the deposit of waste on land which did not have an environmental permit, contrary to section 33(1)(a) and 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

I hope this clarifies matters.

Regards

Helen Reynolds
Customer and Engagement Officer
Cumbria and Lancashire

show quoted sections

Dear CMBLNC Info Requests,

Thank you for your helpful response of 26th November

I now look forward to your response to my request for an internal review of 11th November

Yours sincerely,

Peter Silverman

National Requests, Environment Agency

Dear Mr. Silverman

Review of Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Request

 

Request dated 11 November 2019 by Peter Silverman in respect of
information relating to a request for information on prosecutions by the
Environment Agency under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act
1990.

 

I refer to your email dated 11 November 2019, in which you advised us that
you are appealing our decision to refuse to disclose some of the
information that you requested in your email of 28 October 2019.

 

The Environment Agency received your initial request on 28 October 2019
and responded on 7 November 2019.  We responded under the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).

 

Review

 

I have conducted an internal review of the points you raised in your email
of 11 November 2019.

 

Points 2 and 3 of your email ask that we identify which prosecutions (from
the data we provided) were for ‘fly-tipping’. We are unable to comply with
this element of your request because we do not hold the information that
you have asked for.  The term ‘fly-tipping’ is not a term defined in the
law, and we do not use it in the classification of our enforcement
actions. You had previously asked that if the only way to identify cases
relating to ‘fly tipping’ was to review our case files on an individual
basis, that we carry out that activity  We have not done this as our case
files do not refer to ‘fly tipping’ as it is not a legally defined offence
under our governing legislation. 

 

For the reasons above, I have concluded that the information you requested
relating to ‘fly-tipping’ is not held by the Environment Agency.  On that
basis, I consider that the decision to refuse your request on the grounds
that there is no information that we can provide was correct.

 

EIR Regulation 3(2) states that information is held if it is in our
possession and has been produced or received by us, or it is held by
another person on our behalf at the time the request is received.  In this
case, the information you have requested is not held by the Environment
Agency.

 

We therefore consider that the exception at EIR Regulation 12(4)(a)
applies.  This exception states that a public authority may refuse to
disclose environmental information to the extent that it does not hold
that information when an applicant’s request is received.  Although this
exception is subject to a public interest test, guidance from the
Information Commissioner (the statutory regulator for freedom of
information legislation) states that it is not possible  to conduct a
public interest balancing test when the reason for non-disclosure is that
the information is not held.

 

Service levels

 

I also find that we followed our internal Freedom of Information
procedures and that we complied with our duty to respond within the
statutory timescales.

 

Right of Appeal

 

If you are not satisfied with this review of our decision not to supply
the requested information you can make an appeal to the Information
Commissioner.  The address is:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate).

Fax: 01625 524 510.

Email: [1][email address]. 

Website: [2]http://www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

National Request Team

National Customer Contact Centre

Environment Agency

 

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [3]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

 

 

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
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National Requests, Environment Agency

6 Attachments

Dear Peter

 

Please find attached the following response from our consultee.

 

Please get in touch if you have any further queries or contact us within
two months if you’d like us to review the information we have sent.

 

Kind Regards

National Request Team

Contact Centre Services - Part of Operations, Regulation & Customer

 

( Tel: 03708 506 506

: Web Site: [1]www.gov.uk/environment-agency

 

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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
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accessed by someone other than the sender or recipient, for business
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