ONR 2025 Strategy Consultation

Date released

10 March 2020

Request number

202002063

Release of information under

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Information requested

Could I please have the following information under FOI legislation:

1. List of Stakeholders that Responded to Document, assuming it will not go on the ONR Website;
   
2. Content of Responses from Stakeholders.

Information released

We can confirm that we may hold some of the information requested. However following a sampling exercise, gathering it together is likely to involve a cost way in excess of the £600 limit set by the government in Section 12 of the FOIA . This is due to the number of sites we regulate, the type of information requested and how historic information is stored at ONR.

Each major licensed nuclear site has a liaison committee or stakeholder group, run by the licensee that includes local authorities, trade unions, interested local groups and members of the public. ONR and our predecessor organisation have attended these meetings however the secretariat function is provided by the licensee and they are responsible for the production and distribution of minutes for these groups.

It is likely that they will hold this information therefore we suggest you contact them. The Public Register of Nuclear Site Licensees  details the name and addresses of all companies holding a site licence.

Further information:

I confirm that under Section 1 of the FOIA, that we hold information relevant to your request.

However, we are refusing your request under sections 40 (Personal information) and 22 (Information intended for future publication) of the FOIA.

List of Stakeholders that Responded to Document, assuming it will not go on the ONR Website;

This information is being withheld because it contains personal data, and is therefore exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA. Release of the information would breach principle (a) of GDPR (lawfulness, fairness and transparency) on the grounds that there is no lawful basis to process this data.

In addition, releasing this personal data would also breach principle (b) of GDPR (purpose limitation) as the data was provided solely for the purposes of responding to the draft ONR 2025 Strategy Document consultation.

Content of Responses from Stakeholders

We have considered the public interest test in relation to s22 of the FOIA (see ICO Guidance on section 22) for this information.

Factors for release:

• Issues related to the nuclear industry are subject to close scrutiny and debate, there is a public interest in information related to nuclear activities and the release of such information.

Factors against disclosure:

• The release of this information in advance of publication could lead to confusion in the public sphere.
• We are currently analysing the responses received which requires internal and limited consideration of the information prior to its publication. Release of the information at this time would therefore not be consistent with accepted practices concerning public consultations nor be fair to all of the stakeholders who responded with their views.
• Disclosing the information requested at this early stage may negatively impact upon our publication timetable. We intend to publish a summary of the responses in our formal consultation response which will be published within the next three months.

Conclusion:

We have concluded that it is not in the public interest to release this information at this stage, taking into account the fact that we will be publishing a summary of the responses received in the consultation in our formal consultation response. Our response will be published later this year and will be available on our website.

Exemptions applied

Section 22 and 40

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

Yes, please see above.

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