Guidelines for Addressing Grievances

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has a formal and transparent complaints process in place for service standards. This guide aims to help you navigate through the process when you have a complaint or issue to address.

If you are not satisfied with the senior manager's decision, you have the option to escalate your complaint. You can ask any Member of Parliament (MP) to refer your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Complaints relating to requests handled by DEFRA's executive agencies should be addressed to the relevant person within that agency and not to DEFRA itself. The principal agencies can be contacted via the following links: Animal and Plant Health Agency, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Marine Management Organisation, Natural England, Rural Payments Agency, and details of other agencies and public bodies' complaints procedures.

If your complaint relates to a request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, or to DEFRA's publication scheme, address it to Vanessa Drury at the provided address and email.

Service standards complaints do not relate to internal complaint processes for staff or objections about the department's policies. If you have a complaint regarding DEFRA's handling of your personal data, including your rights under data protection law, please contact the core Data Protection Team at the provided email.

If your complaint relates to any procurement or contractual matter, address it to the Head of Group Commercial at the provided address and email.

If you have a service standard complaint about DEFRA, address it to the Service Standards Adjudicator in writing or by email. The Service Standards Adjudicator can be contacted at [email protected] website or Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

If you are unhappy with the response you receive at Stage 1, you can ask for your complaint to be passed to a senior manager. If a response from the Service Standards Adjudicator does not resolve your complaint, you have 28 days to ask for your complaint to be escalated to a senior manager for the relevant area.

If your complaint relates to DEFRA's policies or the interpretation of legislation, you should address it to the Head of the relevant policy division. These complaints fall outside the remit of the complaints adjudicator.

If your complaint relates to a request to re-use information under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, contact DEFRA's Library and Information Services Team at the provided email. If, having heard the outcome of your complaint about re-using information, you are still dissatisfied, you can refer your case to the Office of Public Sector Information.

It's important to consider if the complaint pertains to one of DEFRA's agencies or other bodies, as many have their own complaints procedures. Before making a service standard complaint, it's advisable to check if the issue at hand falls within DEFRA's jurisdiction.

If, having heard the outcome of your complaint, you are still dissatisfied, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. If a response from DEFRA does not meet the 20 working day deadline for responding to complaints about access to information issues, a reason will be provided, and an expected reply date given.

DEFRA cannot respond to repeated requests for the same information. The department aims to respond to all complaints about access to information issues within 20 working days.