Stobo Hope Woodland Creation Scheme: EIR release

Information requested

Questions in relation to the Stobo Hope Woodland Creation Scheme, under contract reference 23FGS74574.

1. How many times (if any) have Scottish Forestry staff visited the site since the work commenced, what dates did these visits occur (if there were visits) and what date did work by the contractors start?
2. Have Scottish Forestry staff inspected the work carried out, and are they satisfied that the work so far complies with the terms of the Forestry Grant Scheme contract reference 23FGS74574?
3. To date, how much has been paid to the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund? Please provide all documents relating to payments so far, what these payments were for and evidence of work completed.
4. Scottish Forestry has previously provided FOI responses in relation to 22FGS74574, the most recent being responses dated 8 and 25 March 2024 to requests made 2 and 25 February 2024 - Scottish Forestry references 2024/00396771 and 2024/00403505 respectively.
5. The information provided in these two responses may be incomplete and also further information and correspondence may be available.
6. Please could Scottish Forestry (in relation to Stobo) provide all documents, maps, forms and all correspondence between Scottish Forestry and other parties, all internal and external correspondence between Scottish Forestry staff, all internal and external correspondence between Scottish Government staff and all correspondence between Scottish Ministers and other parties since 25 January 2024.
7. Scottish Forestry might not have provided all documents and emails requested from the previous FOIs (2024/00396771 and 2024/00403505 respectively). If there are documents and emails that have not been provided, please ensure that you provide these.
8. The Stobo estate went on the market a few years ago. Please provide (if not already provided) all internal correspondence between Scottish Forestry staff and all internal correspondence between Scottish Government staff and ministers in relation to Stobo since 2019 - up to 25 January 2024 (point 6 above requests the same information for after 25 January 2024).
9. Scottish Forestry do not appear to have any worthwhile documents, correspondence or emails in relation to the standard security for the land. Please provide all documents, correspondence or emails in relation to the standard security for the land, and clarify if this process has been completed (or what stage this is at), producing documentary evidence to show this.

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.

Response to your request

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 an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party), and Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications applies to some of the information you have requested. This information has been redacted on the requested information and documents.

For further detail on the application of these exceptions, please see the Annex.

1. How many times (if any) have Scottish Forestry staff visited the site since the work commenced, what dates did these visits occur (if there were visits) and what date did work by the contractors start?

The site has been visited once by Scottish Forestry (SF) since work started. This was by the Conservator for South Scotland on Friday 15th March 2024. We believe that work started on site on or around w/c 12th or 18th February 2024. We understand that a number of pre-commencement meetings were held before work commenced.

2. Have Scottish Forestry staff inspected the work carried out, and are they satisfied that the work so far complies with the terms of the Forestry Grant Scheme contract reference 23FGS74574?

Scottish Forestry staff have not inspected the work carried out so far. We do not undertake inspections until after claims have been submitted for payment.

3. To date, how much has been paid to the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund? Please provide all documents relating to payments so far, what these payments were for and evidence of work completed.

No payments have been made to the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund with regards to contract 23FGS74574. We assume that this question 3 relates to 23FGS74574.

4. Scottish Forestry has previously provided FOI responses in relation to 22FGS74574, the most recent being responses dated 8 and 25 March 2024 to requests made 2 and 25 February 2024 - Scottish Forestry references 2024/00396771 and 2024/00403505 respectively.

We think the FGS contract reference is incorrect and should be 23FGS74574

5. The information provided in these two responses may be incomplete and also further information and correspondence may be available.

Requested information has been provided.

6. Please could Scottish Forestry (in relation to Stobo) provide all documents, maps, forms and all correspondence between Scottish Forestry and other parties, all internal and external correspondence between Scottish Forestry staff, all internal and external correspondence between Scottish Government staff and all correspondence between Scottish Ministers and other parties since 25 January 2024.

Documents and files are attached, noting the exceptions referred above being applied.*

7. Scottish Forestry might not have provided all documents and emails requested from the previous FOIs (2024/00396771 and 2024/00403505 respectively). If there are documents and emails that have not been provided, please ensure that you provide these.

Documents and files are attached, noting the exceptions referred above being applied.*

8. The Stobo estate went on the market a few years ago. Please provide (if not already provided) all internal correspondence between Scottish Forestry staff and all internal correspondence between Scottish Government staff and ministers in relation to Stobo since 2019 - up to 25 January 2024 (point 6 above requests the same information for after 25  January 2024).

See answers provided in Question 6. All correspondence that we are able to recover has been provided. We understand that other parties expressed an interest in the land Stobo when it was first offered to the market. Information related to this is not held by Scottish Forestry.

All other information is provided, noting the exceptions referred above being applied.

9. Scottish Forestry do not appear to have any worthwhile documents, correspondence or emails in relation to the standard security for the land. Please provide all documents, correspondence or emails in relation to the standard security for the land, and clarify if this process has been completed (or what stage this is at), producing documentary evidence to show this.

Information on this point provided; the email provided shows that the process has not been completed.

* Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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.