Local Authority bids for Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) funding: FOI release

Information requested

1. A copy of the criteria on which the ten local authority bids were selected for Learning Estate Investment Programme Phase 3.

2. Confirmation that all councils were considered eligible to apply for LEIP Phase 3 funding regardless of whether or not those local authorities were successful in previous phases.

3. The original estimated figure for Phase 3 LEIP funding was said to be around £300m. Given the Scottish Government’s investment is said to now be £450-500 million, please reveal when that final figure was decided on (please include date, time and who was present).

4. A record of all meetings that the Scottish Government had on Phase 3 LEIP funding from September 1st 2022 until October 31st 2023.

Response

Part 1

I can confirm that the Scottish Government holds information falling within the scope of your request. 

The relevant document is attached within Appendix 1 of this letter.

Part 2

All local authorities were eligible to apply for Phase 3. However, this third phase supports a priority project in those local authorities who had not thus far benefitted from the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP), therefore, treating all local authorities fairly and equitably.

Part 3

The estimated funding of £450m-£500m for Phase 3 includes both Scottish Government and local authority contributions. This is the remaining budget within the £2bn LEIP after Phases 1 and 2 projects and also the funding uplift for 20 of those projects as a result of market volatility. Therefore, there is no additional investment being made available for this phase.

Part 4

A table containing the requested information can be found within Appendix 2.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, we are unable to provide a small amount of the information you have requested because an exemption under 38(1)(b) (personal information) of the FOISA applies to that information. This is because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, 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 exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, therefore, we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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 202300383321 - Information released - Annex

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6 page PDF

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