Rural payments: EIR review

Information requested

Rural payments information in respect of land at Broadmeadows.

Response

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

I agree with the original decision that an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

However whilst I agree with the exceptions applied meaning we cannot release a detailed breakdown of individual payments calculated and paid under each scheme and what they are for, we can provide further detail in the context of an overall payment for each scheme per calendar year. This follows the general principle demonstrated by data released and already available online for those in receipt of certain rural payments. Something you pointed out in your request for review.

To that extent the following table provides a breakdown of the payments made for each scheme type as already referenced in the original response to your request for information.

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
RP	£983.40	£897.00	£897.00	£829.80	£829.80	£829.80	£829.80
FGS		£3,113.00		£110,231.70	£631,241.69	£56,669.76	£56,665.60
AECS			£42,837.08	£3,129.49	£3,657.49	£3,657.49	£3,657.49
LFASS	£7,526.30	£7,652.92	£7,613.80				£1,728.58	£1,688.94
BPS	£25,342.54	£26,924.12	£27,277.40	£26,544.42	£22,928.25	£24,350.04	£24,486.51	£24,585.30
GR	£9,931.27	£11,691.83	£12,239.39	£12,226.72	£11,333.09	£11,728.01	£11,760.00	£11,799.35
Total Payments	£43,783.51	£50,278.87	£90,864.67	£152,962.13	£669,990.32	£97,235.10	£99,127.98	£38,073.59

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