3 Whitehall Place,
London SW1A 2AW
T: +44 (0)300 060 40000
M:+44 (0)7000 000000
E:
.uk
REF: 11/0205
4th March 2011
Dear Mr Paine,
Thank you for your e-mail of 4th February in which you requested -
.. the project timeline that is being worked to in order to deliver the renewable heat incentive and the date when the consultation response will be published.
Also I would like details of the technologies to be covered under the renewable heat incentive and the tariffs that will be applied to them.
We hope to publish the information that you have requested on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) later this month. All information will be published on the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) website – We have your email address and will forward a link to all the information once it is publicly available.
Following consideration, we have decided not to disclose the information that you requested at this stage. We consider that the information requested falls under exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
We consider that the request for the project timeline that is being worked to; the date that the consultation response will be published; the details of the technologies supported and tariff levels falls within the exemption set out in Section 35(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. Section 35(1)(a) states that a Government Department may withhold information that relates to the formulation and development of government policy. As stated above, we hope to publish the information requested later this month. We consider that this information also falls within Section 22(1) FOIA, which states that information may be withheld where it is intended for publication at a future date.
We consider that the information requested falls within the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, to the extent that some of the information on the technologies supported could potentially be considered to be environmental information, the exceptions set out in the Environmental Information Regulations will apply. In this situation we consider the exceptions set out in Regulation 12(4)(d) and (e) of the Environmental Information Regulations to be the applicable exceptions. Regulation 12(4)(d) states that a public authority may refuse to disclose information which relates to the disclosure of information in the course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data. Regulation 12(4)(e) states that a public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that the request involves the disclosure of internal communications.
Before relying on the exemptions set out in section 22 and 35 FOIA and the exception Regulation 12 of the EIR, we must be satisfied that the public interest in withholding information outweighs the public interest in disclosure. While we recognise that there is a clear public interest in the disclosure of information relation to the formulation or development of government policy we need to balance this against the need for officials to have the private space necessary for such formulation or development before the policy us exposed to public scrutiny. The absence of this private thinking space risks the policy process because officials might refrain from being as frank as they would like or properly probing and challenging policy ideas. We also consider that, as many people will be interested in this information and that it could impact upon commercial decisions, it should be made publicly available to everyone at the same time.
Appeal Procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to the department.Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
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. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Regards,
Renewable Heat Incentive Team
Office of Renewable Energy Deployment
Department of Energy and Climate Change
3 Whitehall Place
London
SW1A 2AW
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