Under 22 Concessionary Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

In January 2022, the Scottish Government introduced the Under 22 free travel scheme for young people across Scotland.

Since the introduction of the scheme, I would like to understand the following.

1. What has been the total cost of reimbursing operators since the introduction of the scheme in January 2022 and the 31st of October 2023?

2. What is the total cost of reimbursing operators for the under 16 element of the scheme since its inception in January 2022 through to the 31st of October 2023?

3. What is the total cost of reimbursing operators for the over 16 element of the scheme since its inception in January 2022 through to the 31st of October 2023?

4. Can you please also provide a breakdown of how much money has been spent per each local authority area with regards to the reimbursement of operators?

Response

As we report on a four weekly reporting period basis, please note that all figures provided below cover the period from the scheme launch in January 2022 to 12 November 2023.

1. What has been the total cost of reimbursing operators since the introduction of the scheme in January 2022 and the 31st of October 2023?

The total cost of reimbursements to operators was £209,443,949.51.

2. What is the total cost of reimbursing operators for the under 16 element of the scheme since its inception in January 2022 through to the 31st of October 2023?

The total cost of reimbursements to operators for the aged 5 to 15 element was £48,654,325.61.

3. What is the total cost of reimbursing operators for the over 16 element of the scheme since its inception in January 2022 through to the 31st of October 2023?

The total cost of reimbursements to operators for the aged 16 to 21 element was £160,789,623.90.

4. Can you please also provide a breakdown of how much money has been spent per each local authority area with regards to the reimbursement of operators?

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because reimbursements for concessionary travel are made to the service operators and are not broken down by local authority area. This is mainly due to the fact that many services pass through multiple local authorities on their end to end journey and we do not have a mechanism for allocating the reimbursement for the overall journey to the individual boundaries for local authorities.

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