Rural payments made in the last ten years to particular organisations managing or owning Millden Estate in Angus: FOI review

Information requested

Please could you provide details of all rural payments to all the organisations that were or are managing and/or owning the Millden Estate, Angus over the last ten years.

Please could you state which of these organisations received rural payments and provide a complete breakdown of these payments, including individual items paid for (if any) under the ‘Agri Environment Climate Scheme’ AECS.

Possible organisations include Millden Agricultural LLP and Millden Sporting LLP, but the Scottish Government may be able to provide more information if there are others.

Response

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed with modifications.

A search of our Rural Payments and Services database shows that the business of Millden Agricultural LLP submit an annual Single Application Form (SAF) declaration to the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID), but only to tell us about their business and agricultural land. This business has not received any rural payment funding from RPID in the last 10 years. Furthermore, the annual SAF declaration indicates the land declared is not let out to other businesses. Millden Sporting LLP are not registered on our Rural Payments and Services database and as such have not received any rural payment funding.

We can only provide rural payment information for businesses which have submitted application(s) for rural funding to us. The information we can provide is based on searches for the two specific organisations listed in the EIR request and of a search on the Millden Estate name. As Millden Agricultural LLP are the sole owners and managers of this estate as previously disclosed, no rural payments have been made in regards to organisations associated with the Millden estate. This is a formal notice under 10(4)(a) of the EIRs, that the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in these payments, but as we do not hold the information, we cannot release it.

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