A9 dualling project between Tomatin to Moy: EIR release

Information requested

1. All advice and documentation received by Transport Scotland regarding the Tomatin to Moy dualling project. In particular, the timeline to procurement, advice on the offers made and how the process will be changed for the next round of procurement.

2. All correspondence received and sent by Drew Hendry regarding the A9 dualling and a list of all meetings held between him and Transport Scotland, including minutes.

3. All correspondence received by Transport Scotland by people about the A9 between May 1 and July 1. If too much, narrow it down to between May 1 and June 1.

4. Has Transport Scotland costed how much it would cost to add junctions and roundabouts to the A9 instead of dualling, and if so, can you supply this analysis?

You provided further clarification on 14 and 15 August 2023 confirming that “for correspondence I’m looking for emails, WhatsApp’s or texts”. In regards to question 3 you confirmed time period, “the year is 2023”. In regards to question 2 you confirmed that your request is for “emails between Transport Scotland and Drew Hendry and “The time frame for question 2 is between January 2022 and July 2023 and only meetings about the A9 dualling programme.” In regards to question 3 your request is for “emails received by Transport Scotland from people about the A9 between May 1 and June 1.”

Response

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.

1. All advice and documentation received by Transport Scotland regarding the Tomatin to Moy dualling project. In particular, the timeline to procurement, advice on the offers made and how the process will be changed for the next round of procurement.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to the information requested because it is internal communication between Transport Scotland / Scottish Government officials and Scottish Ministers. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. This means we have taken account of all the circumstances of the case and considered whether, on balance, disclosing the information is outweighed by the public good to be had by applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of applying the exception and I have outlined the (specific) reasons for this below.

We do recognise that there is some public interest in releasing this information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the ability for Scottish Government, its Ministers and officials to be able to discuss, debate and deliver high quality policy including the decision-making processes in a private thinking space and ensuring it can be conducted in an environment which does not hamper this process. In order to do so they must be able to properly discuss, debate and exchange views on how implementing policy will be undertaken and part of this is the development of briefing material, the deliberations that have taken place and the decisions made until policy is finalised. Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications and therefore it would not be appropriate to release information ahead of that process concluding.

Further Information
It may be helpful to note that work to determine the most suitable procurement options for the remaining sections of the A9 dualling is now in the final stages ahead of advice being provided to Ministers for decision. This is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by the industry, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID. This work is expected to conclude in Autumn 2023 and an update on a new timescale for completion will be provided to the Scottish Parliament at that time.

2. All correspondence received and sent by Drew Hendry regarding the A9 dualling and a list of all meetings held between him and Transport Scotland, including minutes (clarified request is for correspondence between January 2022 and July 2023 and only meetings about the A9 dualling programme).

Please see attached Annex A providing copies of correspondence received from Drew Hendry MSP between January 2022 and July 2023.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.

I can confirm the following list of meetings with Drew Hendry MSP during the time period requested along with details of minutes, where these are available;

• 31 March 2022. No minute was taken for this meeting.
• 19 January 2023

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. I can confirm that the minute for the meeting on 19 January 2023 has been released under Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. Reference 202300344674 and can be accessed via the Scottish Government’s website online at; FOI+202300344674+-+Information+Released+-+Annex+A.pdf (www.gov.scot) – Page 15.

3. All correspondence received by Transport Scotland by people about the A9 between May 1 and July 1. If too much, narrow it down to between May 1 and June 1 (clarified the year is 2023).

Please see attached Annex B with information requested. We have provided copies of correspondence received by Transport Scotland between 1 May and 1 July 2023.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.

4. Has Transport Scotland costed how much it would cost to add junctions and roundabouts to the A9 instead of dualling, and if so, can you supply this analysis?

I can confirm that Transport Scotland has not costed how much it would cost to add junctions and roundabouts to the A9 in place of Dualling.

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 202300369752 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

9 page PDF

File size

609.3 kB

FOI 202300369752 - Information Released - Annex B

File type

15 page PDF

File size

341.3 kB