@whatdotheyknow.com / Our ref: RFI 5407
Your ref: 155219-9338b137
14 May 2013
Dear Mr Salter
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: PIG MOVEMENT DATA
Your request of 29 March 2013 and my interim response of 30 April 2013 refer.
We have handled your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) which apply to requests for environmental information, which is a broad category of information defined in regulation 2 of the EIRs. Public authorities are required to handle requests for environmental information under the EIRs. They give similar access rights to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
You have asked if Defra would provide you with the following data for 2012, for each movement of pigs:
− The date of the move
− Source (dispatching premises) outbound element of the post code
− Destination (premises) outbound element of the post code
− Number of pigs moved
I confirm that Defra holds the information that you have requested.
In your request you referred to Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on anonymising postcodes. This guidance is relevant when considering the anonymisation of personal data. However the data that you have requested would still allow pig farmers to be identified. It is possible for example to use an outbound postcode in an internet search engine including with relevant search terms to identify premises moving/receiving pigs including farms - which may often be an individual farmer’s home address, livestock markets, abattoirs etc. These businesses rarely share the same outbound element of the post code.
We have decided that the information should be withheld under regulations 12(3) and 13(1) of the EIR. These regulations provide that personal data relating to third parties is exempt information if disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). We consider therefore that disclosure of the information requested is likely to breach the first data protection principle in Schedule 1 to the DPA, which relates to the fair and lawful processing of personal data, in two ways. First, disclosure would not constitute ‘fair’ processing of the personal data, and second, disclosure would not satisfy the conditions for data processing in Schedule 2 to the DPA. Therefore, we consider this information is exempt from disclosure under section regulations 12(3) and 13(1) of the EIRs.
As mentioned in my letter to you of 28th March[1] pig keepers would have a reasonable expectation that Defra would not place information they have provided into the public domain in a way that may allow them to be identified or in such a way that may affect their legitimate economic interests. Using the requested data as described above, which equates to just over 178,000 movement records, it will also be possible to determine the size of many pig units, potentially which units are sending pigs to which abattoirs, and the numbers of animals being received by large specialist abattoirs, which is very sensitive commercial information. Consequently Defra has concluded that it is in the public interest for the data you have requested to also be withheld as allowed by the EIRs, regulation 12(5)(e).
I 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 feel free to contact me.
Yours
Patrick Brophy
Livestock ID Team
______
Annex B
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 within 40 working days of the date of this letter. Please write to Mike Kaye, Head of Information Standards, Area 1B, Ergon House, Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2AL (email: ) 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, you have 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
[1] As regards your previous request our reference RFI 5239.