Draft versions of reports or presentations on steel written by Zero Waste Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

I am requesting that the Scottish Government share any finalised or draft versions of any reports or presentations on steel written by Zero Waste Scotland that have been shared with the Scottish Government since January 2022. For clarity, these reports have been referred to in the Scottish Government responses to Parliamentary Questions S6W-08343 and S6W-18159.

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested.

Please see attached the following Zero Waste Scotland documents: 1. Presentation on how should Scotland manage its scrap steel? and 2. A relevant slide from a wider presentation. The information in presentation 1, including the data and figures quoted, was up to date/accurate as of June 2022 which is the version we hold. The information presented in document 2, was up to date/accurate as of February 2023 which is the version we hold.

Up to date information can be found in the final report - Circular Steel in Scotland: Current landscape and opportunities - published here (dated July 2023): https://cdn.zerowastescotland.org.uk/manageddownloads/ mf-qwstm9se-1688475468d

Zero Waste Scotland works to provide reliable and robust evidence and since June 2022, has carried out a rigorous quality assurance process with its contractors. The up-to-date information in the final published report reflects this process, which included:

• Combining and updating the reports to produce a summary report aiming to assist with readability and key messages.
• Incorporating additional contextual evidence in the body of the report.
• Replacing the carbon assessment update with a sub-section on environmental impacts. Zero Waste Scotland analysts are working on a more detailed life cycle assessment in 2023/2024.
• Updating the economic assessment and the energy transition assessment.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

How should Scotland manage its scrap steel?

File type

37 page PDF

File size

1.3 MB

Steel Reuse & Reprocessing Reports

File type

1 page PDF

File size

50.9 kB