A96 dualling between Inverness and Nairn: EIR release

Information requested

All correspondence (emails, letters, memos, texts, minutes of meetings, any other records) provided to Scottish Government ministers - including the minister for transport, the cabinet secretary for net zero and just transition, the cabinet secretary for finance and the first minister - relating to the procedures and processes regarding the proposed dualling of the section of the A96 between Inverness (Smithton) and Auldearn, including the Nairn bypass.

In particular, any documentation related to the timetable for made orders and compulsory purchase orders.

The time period I'm looking for is between May 2021 and the present date.

Response

As all of 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.

Please find below response to requests for information you made in your email.

Response to your request

In response to your request above, please refer to Annex A which contains extracts from correspondence provided to Scottish Government Ministers, including the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition, Minister for Transport, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, and the First Minister, relating to the procedures and processes regarding the proposed dualling of the section of the A96 between Inverness (Smithton) and Auldearn, including the Nairn bypass, in particular, documentation related to the timetable for made orders and compulsory purchase orders. Please note that in some instances responses to correspondence received have not yet been issued so it has not been possible to include these.

Please refer to Annex B which contains extracts of submissions/internal communications provided to Scottish Government Ministers, including the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Just Transition, Minister for Transport, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the First Minister, relating to the procedures and processes regarding the proposed dualling of the section of the A96 between Inverness (Smithton) and Auldearn, including the Nairn bypass, in particular, documentation related to the timetable for made orders and compulsory purchase orders.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information because it is internal communication between Transport Scotland / Scottish Government officials and Scottish Ministers about timetable and/or financing and/or affordability of the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme. This exception has been applied to Annex B contained within this response. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

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, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining 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 discussions on timetable and/or financing and/or affordability of the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme will be disclosed in the future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under development. The information requested is internal communication regarding development of government policy and if released would otherwise impact on effective conduct of public affairs.

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. This exception has been applied to Annexes A and B contained within this response.

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. We have applied this regulation to Annex A and B from the period from May 2021 to 12 May 2023.

This information has been released under Freedom of Information which can be accessed via the Scottish Government’s website online at; https://www.gov.scot/publications/. Please see list below of relevant reference numbers:

• FOI 202200270239
• FOI 202200324323
• FOI 202100251442
• FOI 202200305664
• FOI 202200334072
• FOI 202300356405

Note that although FOI 202300356405 did not include a specific request for correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, we included it in our response because it was considered to be pertinent to the overall request.

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 202300369829 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

18 page PDF

File size

3.5 MB

FOI 202300369829 - Information Released - Annex B

File type

4 page PDF

File size

86.7 kB