Information regarding grant awarded to Scottish Rugby Union: FOI review

Information requested

Your initial FOI request asked for:

1. Was the whole of the grant that was offered paid over / drawn down, in accordance with Section 2 in the Offer? If so, on what date(s)?

2. Has the Statement of Compliance as described at Section 3.2 in the Offer been duly and timeously submitted, as required?

3. Have the terms of Section 3.3 (expenses reasonably and properly incurred, etc.) in the Offer been fully satisfied?

4. Have the terms of Section 4.1 (monthly progress reports, etc.) in the Offer been fully satisfied?

5. Please send me copies of the above-mentioned (Section 4.1) monthly reports together with, when available, a copy of the concluding report required in terms of Section 4.3 in the Offer ("The Grantee shall, on completion of the Project, submit a report to the Scottish Ministers summarising the outcomes and performance of the Project. Such a report shall include such statistical and other information relating to the impact of the Project as shall be required by the Scottish Ministers.").

Response

I have concluded that a different decision be substituted. Our initial response should have clearly told you what information was not held and supplied relevant information that was held, therefore I have laid out the answers to the specific questions that you asked below.

1. Yes, the whole grant was drawn down. Scottish Rugby sent their claim in for the full amount on 28 January 2021. Payment actioned through our payments system on 28 January 2021 and Scottish Rugby would have received the funds about 3 working days after that.

2. The Statement of Compliance was submitted. Attached is a copy. 

3. We consider that the terms of Section 3.3 have been fully satisfied.

4. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the monthly reports you have requested. As indicated in the earlier response, the Scottish Government and Scottish Rugby have had frequent informal discussion over the period of the Grant term to ensure correct use of the funding provided to support jobs and infrastructure (in line with clause 2.5 of the grant offer). On the basis of those discussions, the Scottish Government has been satisfied that the funding has been used for its intended purpose.

5. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the concluding report required in section 4.3 of the offer letter. Some of the funds, £1.5m, were to be spent in 2021-22. We therefore expect a concluding report around the end of this financial year, ie 31st March 2022.

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.

FOI202100268602 - Information released

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