§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many requests for information his Department has received under the Access to Environmental Information Regulations 1992; how many were answered within two months; how many were refused; and on what grounds in each case.
§ Mr. AtkinsMy Department does not keep central records of the number of individual requests it receives for information. We do, however, look very carefully at every case of refusal.
In the period up to 30 June 1994, the Department refused 13 requests. One refusal arose from the Department's inability to respond within the two-month time limit. The remaining refusals related to the following grounds—some refusals covered more than one ground: commercial confidentiality (3), international relations (1), national security (1), legal or other proceedings (4), requested information not held (1), request considered manifestly unreasonable (1), incomplete documents (2), confidential deliberations (2) and internal communications (2).