Scottish Forestry policy on reduction of emissions from business travel: EIR release

Information requested

Our information request is with regards to the delivery of sustainable transport within Scotland’s Public Bodies, and particularly in the context of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Firstly, we are interested in Public Bodies’ targets for business travel:

1. Do you have a target to cut emissions from air and/or business travel? If so, please share information about any target(s) you have (e.g. description of the target, when the target was adopted, timeline to meeting the target).

Secondly, we are interested in Public Bodies’ corporate travel policies and plans:

2. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of emissions from business travel.

3. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of the use of air travel for business travel purposes.

Finally, we are specifically interested in Public Bodies’ use of rail and air for domestic travel:

4. Please provide details of the number of flights your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

5. Please provide details of the number of rail journeys your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

Response

As we consider that the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are dealing 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.

Our information request is with regards to the delivery of sustainable transport within Scotland’s Public Bodies, and particularly in the context of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Firstly, we are interested in Public Bodies’ targets for business travel:

1. Do you have a target to cut emissions from air and/or business travel? If so, please share information about any target(s) you have (e.g. description of the target, when the target was adopted, timeline to meeting the target).

In common with other Scottish Government bodies, we are committed as an organisation to achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

At time of writing, our organisational Net Zero Strategy is currently in development, and we therefore do not yet have a specific target for emissions reduction from business travel. As part of the development of that Strategy, Scottish Forestry is establishing a Net Zero Action Groupmade up of subject matter experts from across the organisation who will input to a Net Zero Road Map to drive down our operational emissions as far as possible.

Secondly, we are interested in Public Bodies’ corporate travel policies and plans:

2. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of emissions from business travel.

Please find attached our current Travel and Expenses policy, which notes that:

2.1 Business Travel Considerations
You should travel by the most economical route and means available, but also consider the impact on your health and wellbeing, the environment and organisational efficiency, when deciding the most appropriate method of travel.
The policy also references environmental considerations throughout, promoting public transport and highlighting ‘green’ forms of travel.
In addition:

• We encourage Scottish Forestry staff to use active travel options through the provision of a Cycle to Work scheme as well as cycling facilities (parking and showers) at each of our offices.
• Accessibility via public transport and cycling routes, and lockable/secure bike storage, are both taken into account when reviewing our office space requirements.
• 30% of our driving vehicle fleet is either fully electric or hybrid (shortly to increase to 35%).

Please see the attached FOI response on active travel (our ref 2023/00365121) for more detail.

3. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of the use of air travel for business travel purposes.

As noted in the attached Travel and Expenses policy:

2.3.2 Air Travel
The use of air travel is allowed when:

• it is cheaper than other means of travel; or
• there is an advantage because of savings in overnight travel expense and/or official time;

or

• when the urgency of the journey justifies any extra cost; or
• it is the most suitable method of travel for an individual (e.g. to avoid stress or fatigue arising from a long car journey or a long working day).

However business efficiency must also be balanced with the impact air travel has on the environment and you are expected to reduce your carbon footprint, as far as possible, when travelling on Agency business. Adding a supplement for carbon off-setting when booking an air fare is allowed and will be reimbursed alongside the cost of the ticket.

Additionally, we have a specific requirement that any proposed foreign travel must be approved by our Chief Executive.

Finally, we are specifically interested in Public Bodies’ use of rail and air for domestic travel:

4. Please provide details of the number of flights your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

Our travel claim records show 3 flights were taken by our staff to and from Edinburgh & Glasgow airports to London airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (1 return flight, 1 one-way flight).

5. Please provide details of the number of rail journeys your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

Our travel claim records show 7 rail journeys were taken by our staff to and from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months.

I note that our annual business mileage by car miles driven, ferries, taxis, trains and flights is reported annually as part of our climate change reporting responsibilities and this reporting is available at: https://sustainablescotlandnetwork.org/reports/scottish-forestry.

Foreign travel expenditure is additionally reported under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 on our website at: https://forestry.gov.scot/about/reports-and-plans. No foreign travel expenditure was recorded in the 2020/21 or 2021/22 financial years.

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 202300374766 - Information Released - Annex A

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4 page PDF

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FOI 202300374766 - Information Released - Annex B

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851.0 kB