Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations

The purpose of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) is to give people the right of access to information held by public sector organisations. The legislation was fully introduced in January 2005 with the intention of improving transparency and accountability in government and the wider public sector, promoting better public understanding of how the government and public sector carry out their duties, why they make the decisions they do, and how they spend tax-payers' money.

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) originated from an international agreement known as the Aarhus Convention. The UK is a signatory of the Convention and Article 1 of the Convention sets out the rationale for the right to access environmental information:

“In order to contribute to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being, each party shall guarantee the rights of access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice on environmental matters in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.”

You do not need to know or state whether your request is an FOI or an EIR request – we will apply the appropriate rules and processes. NESO has a duty to help you understand your rights and responsibilities under this legislation and to explain how you can exercise those rights.

The FOIA and EIR require proactive publication of information and a right for members of the public to request information held by public authorities. You can access information that NESO proactively publishes in our FOI Publication Scheme. This includes environmental information that we are required to publish under the EIR. If you cannot find the information that you are looking for in the Publication Scheme or on our website, you can make an individual FOI or EIR request.

Disclosures of information under the FOIA and EIR are considered to be disclosures into the public domain/to the world, not just to an individual requester.

FOI and EIR may not be appropriate for certain kinds of information requests. Please see Data sharing approach for further options.

Exemptions and exceptions:

Both the FOIA and the EIR list a number of exemptions or exceptions to the right of access. Public authorities are not required to release information to which an exemption or exception legitimately applies. This applies to information that must be proactively and routinely published and responses to individual requests for information.

Certain exemptions are subject to a public interest test which means that public authorities may be required to release information if the public interest is deemed to outweigh any concerns that the public authority may have about making the information available. Further information about exempted information, including a full list of exemptions is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

Publication Scheme

Every organisation covered by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has a legal duty to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme. The main purpose of a Publication Scheme is to make information readily available to the public without the need for specific written requests. Schemes are intended to encourage organisations to publish proactively, and to develop a greater culture of openness.

All Publication Schemes now have to follow the model scheme as stipulated and approved by the Information Commissioner's Office. NESO has adopted the model scheme set out for all non-departmental public bodies.

NESO’s commitments:  

• To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information, including environmental information, which is held by NESO and falls within the classifications below. 
• To specify the information which is held by NESO and falls within the classifications below. 
• To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information in line with the statements contained within this scheme. 
• To produce and publish the methods by which the specific information is made routinely available so that it can be easily identified and accessed by members of the public. 
• To review and update on a regular basis the information NESO makes available under this scheme. 
• To produce a schedule of any fees charged for access to information which is made proactively available. 
• To make this publication scheme available to the public. 
• To publish any dataset held by NESO that has been requested, and any updated versions it holds, unless we are satisfied that it is not appropriate to do so; to publish the dataset, where reasonably practicable, in an electronic form that is capable of re-use; and, if any information in the dataset is a relevant copyright work and we are the only owner, to make the information available for re-use under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act section 19. The term ‘dataset’ is defined in section 11(5) of the Freedom of Information Act. The term ‘relevant copyright work’ is defined in section 19(8) of that Act.

Classes of information 

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is a new public authority and the Freedom of Information Act applies to NESO from 1 July 2024. Prior to 1 July 2024, as the National Grid Energy System Operator (NGESO) which was part of the National Grid plc group of companies, the Freedom of Information Act did not apply. 

As a new public corporation, newly subject to the Freedom of Information Act, and with transitional arrangements with National Grid in place, the classes of information will be published as they become available.

The classes of information will not generally include: 

• Information which is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act;
• Documents which contain information that is exempt from disclosure and where it would not be practical to publish the information in a redacted/edited form; 
• Information in draft form;
• Information that is no longer readily available as it is contained in files that have been placed in archive storage, or is difficult to access for similar reasons.

Before requesting information

Please check the NESO Publication Scheme which includes the information that NESO regularly and proactively publishes. NESO publishes a wide range of information on our website including datasets with details of associated licenses.

If you are unable to find what you are looking for in our Publication Scheme or on our website you can make an information request. 

Don’t worry if you aren’t sure whether your request is a FOI or EIR request as we have a duty to advise and assist requesters and will apply the relevant rules to all requests.

The Information Commissioner’s Office provides some tips on how to make a FOI or EIR request.

If you would like to request copies of your own personal data held by NESO, you can do so by making a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR).

Making a request

FOI requests must be in writing, but EIR requests can also be made verbally.  We may confirm a verbal EIR request with you in writing to ensure that we have an accurate record of your request.

Please try to be as specific as possible about the information that you would like, as this will help us to respond accurately and promptly. Where possible, please include a contact telephone number so that we can contact you to discuss your request if necessary.

You must include your name (your real name or the name of your organisation).

You must include an address that we can send the response to (postal or email or social media).

Please note that we will accept requests made to a NESO corporate social media account, but not to the social media accounts of individual employees of NESO as these are personal accounts.

Do let us know if you require assistance submitting a request for information or if you need or would prefer to receive information in a particular format.

We will respond to your request promptly and within 20 working days. The legislation allows us to extend this deadline in certain circumstances e.g. if we need to clarify your request with you, for very large and complex requests, if we are charging a fee[HW1]  for information, or if we need longer to consider the public interest test. We will always acknowledge receipt of FOI and EIR requests and we will let you know if we need to extend the deadline.

 [HW1]FEES INFO/POLICY

The Information Commissioner’s Office provides a helpful summary of what to expect after making an information request. 

What if my request is refused?

Some information held by NESO may be exempt from release. The rules vary depending on whether the request falls under the FOIA or the EIR. Often we will have to decide whether it is in the public interest to withhold or release information. For more information see the FOI & EIR rights and exemptions tab on this page.

If your request is refused, we will tell you why and identify which exemption or exception has been applied. You will also be given details of how to complain if you are not satisfied with our response. If, after your complaint has been looked at internally, you are dissatisfied with the response, you may ask the Information Commissioner to review our decision. For more information please see the FOI/EIR complaints procedure in the contact us tab.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has created a guide for requesters who are dissatisfied with a response to a FOI or EIR request.

The Information Commissioner’s Office provide information on their website about their advisory and complaints services. You can also call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113 or use their live chat service, and the ICO website includes guidance information.

Please note that NESO is a new public authority, and the Freedom of Information Act applies to NESO. Prior to becoming NESO, as the National Grid Energy System Operator (NGESO) and part of the National Grid group of companies, the FOIA did not apply. 

Contact us

If you cannot find the information that you require in our Publication Scheme, on our website, or in our Disclosure Log, please use the contact details below to make a request for information.

The quickest and easiest way to make a request for information is via email:

[email protected] 

For postal requests:

Information Rights, Legal and Regulation

National Energy System Operator (NESO)
Faraday House
Warwick Technology Park
Gallows Hill
Warwick, CV34 6DA

For EIR requests by telephone, our customer service team (T: 0800 464 3621) will record your contact details and request and pass them to the Information Rights and Data Protection Officer.

Complaints/ internal review procedure

If you make a request under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations and you are not satisfied with our response, you are entitled to an internal review. An internal review may be requested if you wish to challenge the outcome of the request or the request handling process. 

Requests for internal reviews can be made within 40 working days from the date that we issued our response to the request. We are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date. 

If you have made an FOI or EIR request and believe you are entitled to an internal review, please either email or write to us. Please include your name, address/e-mail address and the unique reference number given to your individual request. Please explain what you would like us to review from our original response.

A senior manager or legal advisor who was not involved in the original request will carry out the internal review. 

We will acknowledge receipt of your internal review request and will aim to complete the review within 20 working days. We may need to pause the review in order to seek clarification from you.

If the internal review is complex, requires consultation with third parties, requires additional consideration of the public interest test, or involves a high volume of information, we may need longer than 20 working days to consider the issues and respond.  In these instances we will contact you with a target date.  This will normally be no more than an additional 20 working days, but a longer extension may be required in exceptional circumstances.

We will inform you in writing of the outcome of the internal review.  If the outcome of the internal review is a decision that information which was previously withheld should now be disclosed, we will either provide this to you when we inform you of the outcome or will inform you when the information will be provided.  It may be the case that the internal reviewer re-affirms the original decision.

If a decision to withhold information is made using the exemption at section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act (free and frank discussions/advice, prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) that decision will have been taken by NESO's Qualified Person. In these circumstances and in certain cases where there is no-one of sufficient seniority who has not been involved in the original decision, it is not possible to offer an internal review.

If you are dissatisfied with the internal review of our decision, or when an internal review was not available, you can seek an appeal from the Information Commissioner's Office by writing to:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Alternatively, visit the Information Commissioner's website.

Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 public authorities may, in certain circumstances, apply costs to a request. The fees regulations for FOI and EIR requests are different and NESO will apply the appropriate charging rules to each type of request. Where a request spans across both EIR and FOI, i.e. it includes environmental and non-environmental information, NESO will follow the Information Commissioner’s guidance.

The NESO costs and fees information is set out below:

1. EIR fees
2. FOI fees
3. Fees schedule (copying and communications)

1: EIR costs and fees

The EIR allow public authorities to charge for making environmental information available.

We will not charge for:

• Information contained in public registers
• Lists of information
• Published data sets
• Information published on our website or in our disclosure log
• The time taken to determine whether we hold the information
• The time it takes us to decide whether the requested information can be released

We may charge for:

NESO may charge for the staff time taken to locate, retrieve and assemble the information and for providing it to the individual who has requested it. 

• Staff Costs 

Staff costs incurred in the location, retrieval, and assembling (including redaction) of the information requested will be charged on the basis of the actual cost to NESO of employing the staff involved for the time spent. The employee role, necessary skills and knowledge to deal with the request for information, staff availability and access to information will be factors in determining which employees’ time is allocated and therefore the level of costs applied. 

• Non-staff costs associated with providing environmental information 

NESO may also charge for the cost of copying documents, postage and putting information into a particular format. These costs will be charged according to the Fees Schedule.

Where a charge is applicable, we will inform the requester as soon as possible and in any event within 20 working days of receiving the EIR request. We will send a fees quote to the requester which will include:

• How much the charge will be
• How we estimated the charge
• The deadline for making the payment
• Payment methods

In all cases where a charge is payable, payment will be required in advance of any work to assemble and supply the information. This is permitted under the EIR. If we do not receive the payment within 60 working days following issue of the notification of the charge, then NESO is not required to proceed with the EIR request.

Please also note that NESO may:

• Refuse requests on the basis that they are manifestly unreasonable, subject to a public interest test. Under the Environmental Information Regulations there is no ‘cost limit’ for dealing with requests, but requests that cost a disproportionate amount can be refused under regulation 12 (4) (b);
• Refuse requests for copies of information where it is shown that EIR Regulation 5 or 6(1) (b) has been complied with and the information is already accessible either for inspection, at a public library or published on a website, or other public resource.

2: FOI costs and fees 

Under the Freedom of Information Act there is an appropriate cost limit for public authorities The appropriate cost limit is £600 for central government, legislative bodies and the armed forces. For all other public authorities the appropriate cost limit is £450. NESO’s appropriate cost limit is £450. Based on a standard rate of £25 per hour, this equates to 18 hours of staff time.

The activities that can be taken into account when estimating the cost of compliance are:

• determining whether we hold the information;
• locating that information or a document which may contain the information;
• retrieving the information or a document containing it; and
• extracting the information from a document containing it.

This includes staff time and any specialist services or equipment that is required to carry out the activities listed above.

When estimating costs, we cannot include:

• The amount of time likely to be taken to consider whether any exemptions apply.
• The amount of time likely to be taken to remove or redact exempt information.

The Freedom of Information Act also allows public authorities to aggregate similar requests from the same requester or requesters acting together that are received within 60 consecutive working days for the purpose of calculating the appropriate cost limit.

Where the cost of compliance is estimated to fall within the appropriate cost limit

We can charge for 

• communication costs and disbursements, e.g. the cost of printing or photocopying a document, postage costs – see fees schedule

We cannot charge for 

• staff time 
• providing the information into an alternative format if we already have a statutory obligation under another law to do so
• putting the requested information into an alternative format as a reasonable adjustment under the Equalities Act 2010.

Where the cost of complying with a request is estimated to exceed the appropriate cost limit

There are two options:

1. We can refuse the request, but will usually have to provide advice to the requester to help them make a new, refined request which doesn’t exceed the appropriate cost limit; or
2. We can choose to answer the request and charge a fee which may include:

• the costs which may be taken into account when calculating if the request exceeds the appropriate limit;
• the communication costs (including the costs of communicating if you hold the information, even if you we are not providing it) – see fees schedule; and
• staff time spent on communicating the information (at the flat rate of £25 per hour) and staff time spent redacting the information.

Again, we cannot charge for:

• providing the information into an alternative format if we already have a statutory obligation under another law to do so
• putting the requested information into an alternative format as a reasonable adjustment under the Equalities Act 2010.

3: Costs/fees schedule