EIR Agent
AI for Environmental Information Regulations requests. Residents are pointed to what you already publish before they ask. Officers get each request logged, routed and drafted, with the EIR deadlines and wording in place and any possible exceptions left for them to decide.
Four rules that make EIR different
Questions about contaminated land, flooding, planning or air quality usually reach the team that handles FOI, often through the same inbox. They fall under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which work differently in four places that matter day to day.
Exceptions, each with a public interest test
Disclosure is the starting point. Information can only be withheld under an exception, and almost every exception has to be weighed against the public interest.
The instruction to the department asks them to flag anything they think should be withheld and leave it in. An officer then decides each exception with the full information in front of them.
20 working days, extendable to 40
The response is due within 20 working days of receipt. Where a request is complex and voluminous, that can go to 40.
It works out the response date from the day the request arrived, and drafts the extension wording when an officer decides the longer limit applies.
Requests can be made verbally
A request does not have to be in writing. A resident can make one by phone or at a counter.
Officers log a phone or counter request like any other, so it gets the same deadline tracking and drafting.
Reasonable charges are allowed
A council can charge a reasonable amount for supplying environmental information, in line with its published schedule of charges.
The charges wording goes into the draft response for the officer to confirm or remove.
One request, from question to response
This is the request the demos follow. A resident wants to know about contamination and ground conditions on the former colliery land off Bickershaw.
- 1The resident asks in plain languageThey type their question as they would say it. Nobody expects them to know it counts as an EIR request.
- 2Published sources come firstThe assistant points them to the disclosure log, open data and publication scheme in case the answer is already out there.
- 3The request goes in and is acknowledgedNothing covers it, so they fill in a short request form. They are told to expect an acknowledgement within 3 days and a full response within 20 working days.
- 4Logged and sent to the departmentThe request arrives as EIR 414. It is logged and routed, with an instruction form and covering email prepared for the department that holds the information.
- 5Chased while the team waitsWhen the department’s reply runs late, reminders and chasers are drafted for the officer to send.
- 6Drafted, checked and approvedThe response comes with the EIR wording on charges and the possible extension, and the response date already worked out. An officer reviews it and approves it.
EIR Agent uses the same two-agent design as the FOI Agent. One difference: searching the disclosure log is optional on the resident side, because EIR starts from disclosure and many councils keep one log for both.
Follow a contaminated land request
Play the resident, then the officer. About 5 minutes each.
Runs where your FOI Agent runs
EIR Agent sits inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant and works with the case management system or disclosure log you already use. Every response is a draft until a named officer signs it off.
Start with an AI Prototyping Day
It takes a day. We bring the method, you bring your team and your data, and we run it against a real case from your own backlog rather than a hypothetical. You will leave knowing whether this is worth pursuing, with no commitment beyond the day.
AI Prototyping Days are free. We ask that your head of department sponsors the session and brings the people who can make decisions and make things happen.
Or email us directly: info@agilisys.co.uk
See both demos
Tell us who you are and both demos open straight away. We use this to follow up about our services, nothing more.