Storm Gerrit damage and Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association briefing: EIR release

Information requested

1. All briefings, correspondence, including internal, minutes and notes from meetings, held by the Scottish Government regarding £61m being deferred from the agriculture and rural budget, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23957605.anger-scots-farmers-hit-vital-funds-deferred/

2. How many councils/businesses/people have applied to the Scottish Government for funding to help with Storm Gerrit damage, how much has been handed out?

3. All briefings, correspondence, including internal, minutes and notes from meetings, held by the Scottish Government, regarding plans to offer farmers a lump sum to leave the industry, between April 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

4. Could you supply the reasons behind Mairi Gougeon rejecting the chance to deliver the keynote address at the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association spring briefing and correspondence surrounding this decision, including briefings and minutes from meetings, between December 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

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 a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1 - I enclose copies of some of the information you requested.

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 exceptions under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information), regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) and regulation 10(5)(f) (Third party interest) of the EIRs apply to that information. The reasons why exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Question 2 - The answer to your question is:
In 2023-24,4 local authorities alerted the Scottish Government to a potential claim through the Bellwin Scheme as a result of Storm Gerrit. Bellwin activations do not exist in isolation and the threshold applies cumulatively to all emergency incidents occurring during the financial year. In 2023 24, over £17 million has been claimed through the Bellwin Scheme by councils. Due to the cumulative nature of the eligibility of the Bellwin Scheme, it is not possible to attribute any of that claim to Storm Gerrit specifically.

Question 3 - While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because the Scottish Government is not responsible for the subject.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about plans to offer farmers a lump sum to leave the industry, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Question 4 - Ms Gougeon was unable to attend as she was overseas. Copies of supporting correspondence are enclosed.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information. The reasons why this exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in question 3 because it is not a matter we have looked at in that period. 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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about plans to offer farmers a lump sum to leave the industry, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between officials or between Ministers and officials or internal exchanges/ email correspondence not within scope of this request.

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, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly develop Government policy and provide sound information to Parliament (to which they are accountable) and the media. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

Regulation 10(5)(f) – substantial prejudice to interests of person who provided the information

An exception under regulation 10(5)(f) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to interests of person who provided the information) applies to some the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the interests of the stakeholder who provided that information to the Scottish Government. They:

• were not under any legal obligation to give us that information;
• did not supply it in circumstances in which it could, apart from the EIRs, be made available; and
• have not consented to disclosure.

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 and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the ability of the Scottish Government to exchange information with stakeholders on a confidential basis. Publishing such information could make them reluctant in future to share information with us and significantly impair the Scottish Government’s ability to develop policies and make decisions on the basis of fully informed advice and evidence. This would not be in the public interest.

Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party

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 (ie. names, phone numbers, email addresses, etc) 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.

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 202400405639 - Information released - Attachments 1 - 4

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