Deposit return scheme data: EIR release

Information requested

1. How much money in total has been spent on a deposit return scheme for Scotland overall up to the date of this FOI, with a breakdown of these costs?

2. All discussions held with the UK Government, including correspondence (internal as well), minutes from meetings and notes, regarding the UK-wide deposit return scheme, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

3. Could you supply any impact assessments written about the Scottish deposit return scheme between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

4. Why was the deposit return scheme allowed to get to such an advanced stage without a legally watertight exemption from the Internal Market Act in place before it got to that stage? Did Ministers make assumptions they should not have?

5. Did the Scottish Government conduct a lessons learned review over the failure/pausing of the scheme and could you supply this review? If not, why?

6. How many compensation requests have been made to the Scottish Government over money spent on the scheme? What have been the outcomes of these and can you supply the correspondence regarding them?

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.

Question 1

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested as it would not be possible to provide a total expenditure figure in relation to Scottish Government spending on the Deposit Return Scheme. I have set out the reasons for this along with available expenditure figures below for your convenience.

It may help if I explain that Civil Servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of their work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to provide an expenditure figure regarding how much the Scottish Government has spent on work by Civil Servants involved with the Deposit Return Scheme.

Therefore, with respect to your request for a total expenditure figure, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Under regulation 5(1) of the EIRs, a Scottish public authority that holds environmental information must make it available when requested to do so. This duty is not absolute. In some cases, information is excepted from disclosure, under regulations 10 and 11 of the EIRs. However, all of the exceptions in regulation 10 (and parts of regulation 11) are subject to a public interest test. To clarify, even though we do not hold the information, because we are using EIRs Exception 10(4)(a) in response to your request, we are required to apply a public interest test.

Guidance can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

The Scottish Government has spent a total of £227,720.95 in regards to the Deposit Return Scheme since 2018 up to the date of your request on costs associated with consultation(s), publication of regulations and associated documents, evaluations, independent reviews and assurance. I have provided a breakdown of these costs by year below:

Financial Year	Consultations (£)	Publications (£)	Independent reviews and assurance work (£)
2018/19	41,676.79	12,655.01	Nil
2019/20	Nil	10,634.37	20,124
2020/21	Nil	359.00	9,255.00
2021/22	Nil	4,877.64	83,430.00
2022/23	Nil	797.50	14,850
2023/24	5,140.80	2,158.96	21,761.88

Question 2

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex B.

On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in Annex A.

Question 3

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. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Lorna Slater, submitted updated impact assessments as part of her response to the Scottish Parliament Net Zero, Energy and Transport committee on 11 September 2023. The response included both an updated Business & Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) and Strategic Environment Assessment addendum (SEA).

The full response can be found on the Scottish Parliament website here. You may wish to review Annex A of the publication which contains the updated impact assessments noted above which can be found here.

Questions 4 & 5

The Scottish Government has previously published information in relation to the process and steps taken to request an exclusion from the Internal Market Act (IMA) 2020 for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). I have included links to publications below that you may find helpful:

• Internal Market Act: correspondence
• EIR release - 202300358557
• Deposit Return - gov.scot

I would also highlight that the launch of Scotland’s DRS was delayed until at least October 2025 as a consequence of the decision by the UK Government to not provide a full exclusion from the IMA.

Following consultations with key stakeholders in June 2023, Scottish Ministers concluded that certainty regarding critical elements of the scheme could not be provided to businesses until the UK Government provided further information on the additional conditions imposed on the scheme. These conditions include the removal of glass and the requirement to align aspects of the schemes across the UK.

The Scottish Government has conducted a lessons learnt review as part of a Four Nations meeting held on 27 June 2023. A copy of the relevant part of the minutes for said meeting can be found in Annex B.

I would note that upon reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in Annex A.

Question 6

The Scottish Government has received one compensation request in relation to the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

The above mentioned compensation request has not reached an outcome.

Therefore, with respect to your request for information regarding the outcome of the above noted claim, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Under regulation 5(1) of the EIRs, a Scottish public authority that holds environmental information must make it available when requested to do so. This duty is not absolute. In some cases, information is excepted from disclosure, under regulations 10 and 11 of the EIRs. However, all of the exceptions in regulation 10 (and parts of regulation 11) are subject to a public interest test. To clarify, even though we do not hold the information, because we are using EIRs Exception 10(4)(a) in response to your request, we are required to apply a public interest test.

Guidance can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Additionally, with regards to your request for copies of correspondence relating to any compensation requests received by the Scottish Government regarding DRS, an exception under regulation 10(5)(b) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to course of justice) applies to all of the information you have requested because it is subject to legal professional privilege.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications which are subject to legal professional privilege and to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation.

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.

EIR 202300391068 - Information released - Annex

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