Guidance

Information Requests (FOI and EIR) Procedure

Updated 23 July 2025

1.         Purpose

This procedure defines how requests for information must be handled to ensure Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) complies with the requirements and legal obligations of the Freedom of Information Act (‘FOI’) 2000, and Environmental Information Regulations (‘EIR’) 2004.

2.         Scope

This procedure applies to Information Requests which are received by GBE-N.

3.         Roles and Responsibilities

Head of Transparency and Ethics	Responsible for overseeing GBE-N compliance with the EIR and FOI Act.
Legal Department	Provide advice on the application of FOI Act and EIR exemptions.
FOI/EIR Team	Head of Transparency and Ethics support by Legal Department and others as required.
Directors	Responsible for ensuring that their directorates are fully compliant with this procedure.
GBE-N Workers	Responsible for ensuring requests for information are processed appropriately in line with this procedure. If a worker’s assistance is required to answer a request, they must fully cooperate with the Head of Transparency and Ethics within the timescales set. “Worker” for the purpose of this procedure means an employee of GBE-N or any other person who conducts work for GBE-N (including but not limited to volunteers, workers, independent contractors and individual consultants engaged by GBE-N, agency workers assigned to work for GBE-N, and secondees on full or part-time secondment to GBE-N).

4.           Terms and Acronyms

Acronym/Term	Meaning
FOI	Freedom of Information Act 2000
EIR	Environmental Information Regulations 2004

5.           Procedure

5.1.  Receiving and logging an Information Request

5.1.1.    If there is a request for information, other than routine business enquiries such as recruitment information, leaflets or press releases, it must be forwarded to the FOI inbox for review: (foi@greatbritishnuclear.uk).

5.1.2.     Once a request for information has been received the FOI/EIR Team will log the request on the Information Request Tracker.

5.1.3.     FOI and EIR requests must be answered within 20 working days from receipt, unless clarification on the request has been sought from the person making the request, or there is a legitimate reason permitted by the Act or regulations.

5.2.  Valid FOI Requests

A valid FOI request must be received in a written format, contain contact information, and adequately describe the information required. If the request does not adequately describe the information required, then we should contact the applicant and ask them to provide us with more information or clarification. Where clarification on the request has been sought, the 20 working day response period will not start until a satisfactory reply constituting a valid request is received.

5.3.  Valid EIR request

A valid EIR request can be received both in verbal and in written format, relate specifically to the environment or anything which affects the environment such as emissions and discharges.

If the request is too general, we should ask the applicant to provide more clarification. The time limit for providing the information will reset to 20 working days with the clock starting the day after we receive the required clarification from the applicant.

5.4.  Advice and Assistance

GBE-N has a duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance to applicants requesting information (s.16 FOIA, Reg.9 EIR). This may include assisting the applicant in clarifying their request, reducing the costs of the request, transferring the request to another public authority and directing the applicant to the publication scheme if the information is held there.

5.5.  Information discovery

5.5.1.    The FOI Act and EIR requires GBE-N to supply “information held” by the organisation. When a request is received GBE-N must first discover what relevant recorded information is held. GBE-N do not have to “generate” information in response to a request e.g., carry out statistical analyses or generate one off reports. However, if the information can be retrieved by running a straight forward database search or by carrying out simple calculations, then this should be undertaken.

5.5.2.  The FOI/EIR Team will require the subject matter expert within GBE-N to assist in searching for information. Some requests may require the retrieval of emails, correspondence or documents stored on your laptop.

5.5.3.    It is a criminal offence to destroy information once a FOI or EIR request has been made for it.

5.5.4.    If no relevant recorded information is found, GBE-N will respond to the applicant and inform them that GBE-N they do not hold the requested information. The response will be made by the Head of Transparency and Ethics or member of the Legal Department via the FOI inbox.

5.6.  Third party consultation

5.6.1. If the information requested originates from or relates to a third party i.e., non GBE-N then that party must be consulted before release.

5.6.2. They should be contacted by the FOI/EIR Team and informed that a request has been made and what information it relates to.

5.6.3. They should be given an opportunity to comment/advise if, in their view, the information should be released and if they believe any information should be withheld and why.

5.6.4. Although, the views of a third party will be considered when making a decision about applying exemptions, GBE-N reserves the right to apply exemptions at its discretion in accordance with FOI and EIR

5.7.  Considering exemptions (FOI) and Exceptions (EIR)

The EIR and FOI Act give everyone the right to request information held by public authorities, however they do set out a number of exemptions (FOI) and exceptions (EIR) to this right.

5.8.  Refusing requests 

5.8.1. Any exemption must be applied in line with section 17 of the FOI Act and any exception must be applied in line with regulation 14 of the EIR within the 20- working day time limit. All EIR exceptions and most FOI exemptions are subject to the public interest test i.e. where the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Only where it does, we can refuse to disclose.

5.8.2. GBE-N subject matter experts will be asked to highlight any potentially exempt information and explain why it should not be released.

5.8.3. Decisions relating to the application of exemptions or exceptions and the public interest test will be made by the FOI/EIR Team, taking into account advice from the person who holds/owns the information.

5.8.4. If the exemption (FOI) or exception (EIR) requires a public interest test this must be done where possible within the 20-day deadline. In the event that this will take longer than 20 working days the requestor should be notified and given a date by which GBE-N expect to make a decision (in accordance with s.17 (2) of the FOI Act and Reg. 14 of EIR).

5.8.5. All refusals must be made by the FOI/EIR Team by sending an appropriate refusal notice to the requestor. This notice must consider requirements of the exemptions or exceptions being applied and s.17 of the FOI Act and regulation 14 of the EIR. The notice should be accompanied by any information which is not exempt.

5.8.6. Refusal notices will state that any request for review should be directed to the Head of Transparency and Ethics in the first instance and inform the requestor of their right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office if they are not satisfied with our internal review.

5.9. Estimating costs

5.9.1.GBE-N’s policy it that it will supply information for free. However, GBE-N reserves the right to charge in line with the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004 no.3244).

5.9.2.Section 12 of the FOI Act places no obligation to respond to requests if the charges that would be incurred in supplying the information would exceed the appropriate limit (£450, reflecting 18 hours of staff time), as set out in SI 2004 no.3244 Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Any decision to refuse on these grounds would be made in line with point 5.12 of this procedure.

5.10.Supplying information

5.10.1.If no exemptions or exceptions apply the information must be supplied to the requestor within the 20 day time limit.

5.10.2.If the requestor has stated a format preference, GBE-N is required to comply with this as far as practicably possible. If it is not possible, the information will be supplied in another suitable format and an explanation provided to the requestor as to why it wasn’t possible to comply with their preference.

5.11.Internal Review

5.11.1.When responding to a request for information, the requester will be notified of GBE-N’s internal review process and procedures and of their right to complain to the Information Commissioner if they are still dissatisfied following the outcome of the internal review

5.11.2.Requests for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of the initial response.

5.11.3.The internal review will be undertaken by someone outside GBE-N’s Legal and Ethics Team who was not involved in the initial response.

5.11.4.The internal review should provide a fair and thorough review of procedures and decisions taken, including whether the public interest test was correctly applied if a qualified exemption was used. It might also include applying a different or additional exemption(s).

5.11.5.The outcome of the internal review should be sent to the requester within 20 working days of receipt of the request if FOI or 40 working days of the request if EIR. If the outcome of an internal review finds that information previously withheld should now be disclosed, the information should be provided at the same time.

5.12.Completion

5.12.1. Once the request has been responded to, the Information Request Tracker will be updated.

5.13.Monitoring

5.13.1.Performance will be monitored to ensure that, wherever possible, requests are dealt with within 20 working days from receipt.

6.           References

Reference	Title
GBN-Legal-PRO-001	Information Request (FOI/EIR) process