| Good afternoon,
RE: Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)/ Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR)
Thank you for your request (dated 1 March 2025) regarding the Environment Agency’s criminal investigation into all water companies.
We respond to requests for information that we hold under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
1. The full costs to date of the current criminal investigation of all the water companies
2. The anticipated costs of the full current criminal investigation of the water companies
Information Held
1. The full costs to date of the current criminal investigation of all the water companies:
Based on resourcing work completed at the end of 2024, the estimated spend profile as of March 2025 is 5.9M.
Information Not Held
2. The anticipated costs of the full current criminal investigation of the water companies:
The information you have requested is not held by the Environment Agency and we are therefore refusing your request on the grounds that there is no information we can provide.
Where a request is for environmental information, the Regulations allow us to refuse to disclose it if the exception at EIR Regulation 12(4)(a) applies. The regulation 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.
It is not possible for us to conduct a public interest balancing test because the reason for non-disclosure is that the information is not held.
Rights of appeal
If you are not satisfied, you can contact us within 2 calendar months to ask for our decision to be reviewed. We shall review our response to your request and give you our decision in writing within 40 working days.
If you are not satisfied following this, you can then make an appeal to the Information Commissioner Office (ICO), the statutory regulator for EIR/FOI. The address is: ICO, 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: casework@ico.org.uk | Website: http://www.ico.org.uk
Kind regards
Clare Williamson
National Request Team
National Customer Contact Centre
Environment Agency: Contact Centre Services – Part of Strategy, Transformation & Assurance (STA)
Tel 03708 506 506 |
