Single building assessment and cladding remediation: EIR Review

Information requested

From original request 202200313900

• The Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit business cases, including all revisions.
• The organisational breakdown structures for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes.
• The risk registers for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes.
• The benefits management and KPI documents relating to the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes A list of, and the documents of, all Independent Assurance events (i.e. specific review documents).

Response

Further to my letter of 30 September, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

• The Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit business cases, including all revisions.
• The organisational breakdown structures for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes.
• The risk registers for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes.
• The benefits management and KPI documents relating to the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes A list of, and the documents of, all Independent Assurance events (i.e. specific review documents).

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

On further investigation, the information that you have requested falls under the definition of environmental information for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs). Therefore, 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.

Please accept our apologies for the misclassification of your original request.

I will now address each of your points in turn.

• The Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit business cases, including all revisions

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to all of the information you have requested because it is an unfinished document which is still in the course of completion. This is because the understanding of the scope of the issue has evolved significantly since the programme’s inception and the draft business case in question no longer reflects the work underway. Work is ongoing to complete and update the business case in line with feedback from the Single Building Assessment Pilot.

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 release as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring incomplete information which is still in being worked on is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.

• The organisational breakdown structures for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes

This material was provided in the original response.

• The risk registers for the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between Scottish Government officials about the management of the programme.

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 release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on risks, both real and potential, will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on the programme while it is still under discussion, development and delivery.

I am also withholding a small amount of personal data from this information (names of risk owners) under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs. The reasons why this exception applies are set out below in my answer to your request for a list of, and copies of, any ‘Independent Assurance events’.

I attach the risk log for the programme. Some content has been redacted in line with the above.

• The benefits management and KPI documents relating to the Single Building Assessment and Cladding Remediation Unit programmes

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the understanding of the scope of the issue has evolved significantly since the programme’s inception. Work is ongoing to define benefits and performance indicators in line with feedback from the Single Building Assessment Pilot.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in the information you seek, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

• A list of, and the documents of, all Independent Assurance events (i.e. specific review documents)

My review has determined that two Gateway Review 0 assurance processes have been carried out in relation to the Cladding Remediation Programme in October 2021 and June 2022.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

Subject to these exceptions, I attach the Gateway Review documents associated with the October 2021 and June 2022 assurance events.

Lastly, please accept my apologies for the incorrect application of Freedom of Information Act exemptions in the original response and be assured that further support will be provided to avoid future instances of such an approach.

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.

FOI 202200321870 - Information Released - Annex

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