Stobo woodland creation scheme information: EIR release

Information requested

In respect of the Stobo woodland creation scheme (23FGS74574), located in the South Scotland conservancy.

Please could Scottish Forestry provide information in respect of the following:

1. The identities of entities and/or individuals who have invested in the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund.

2. Is the Stobo woodland creation scheme still registered with the Woodland Carbon Code?

3. All communication between Scottish Forestry and the Rural Payments Inspectorate Directorate concerning the site for the Stobo woodland creation scheme from 2020 up to the present day.

4. Details of any inspection of the Stobo site by Scottish Forestry from 1 January 2023 to date, including the date of the inspection, the purpose of the inspection, the job titles of the officers who attended and any report of the inspection.

5. Details of any inspection of the Stobo site planned by Scottish Forestry, providing similar details as so far applicable.

6.Copies of correspondence between Scottish Forestry and third parties concerning the Stobo Woodland creation scheme from 1 July 2024 to date.

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.

1. The identities of entities and/or individuals who have invested in the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund.

In respect of the Stobo woodland creation scheme (23FGS74574), located in the South Scotland conservancy, we cannot provide the identities and/or individuals who have invested in the Forestry Carbon Sequestration Fund as we do not hold this 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.

2. Is the Stobo woodland creation scheme still registered with the Woodland Carbon Code?

The Stobo Woodland Creation Scheme has been registered under the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) but has not yet been validated. It still needs to be checked by a third party accredited validation and verification body before the project is validated to the WCC and credits could be issued.

The Stobo Woodland Creation Scheme can be viewed on the registry here: Markit Environmental Registry - Project Details

3. All communication between Scottish Forestry and the Rural Payments Inspectorate Directorate concerning the site for the Stobo woodland creation scheme from 2020 up to the present day.

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 10(5)(b) (prejudice to the course of justice) where this relates to legal advice received from solicitors acting on our behalf, as this information is subject to legal professional privilege.

4. Details of any inspection of the Stobo site by Scottish Forestry from 1 January 2023 to date, including the date of the inspection, the purpose of the inspection, the job titles of the officers who attended and any report of the inspection.

Our response to the EIR request with reference 202400412925 Stobo Hope Woodland Creation Scheme: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) notes when the site has been visited by Scottish Forestry (SF) since work started. This was by the Conservator for South Scotland on Friday 15 March 2024. We believe that work started on site on or around w/c 12 or 18 February 2024.

We understand that a number of pre-commencement meetings were held before work commenced, but do not hold records of these. 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.

Senior Officials which included the Director of Operations and the Conservator for South Scotland and a junior official, visited the site on 21 August 2024 to inspect the works that were underway.

5. Details of any inspection of the Stobo site planned by Scottish Forestry, providing similar details as so far applicable.

As stated in our response to a previous EIR request with reference 202400412925 Stobo Hope Woodland Creation Scheme: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 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.

6. Copies of correspondence between Scottish Forestry and third parties concerning the Stobo Woodland creation scheme from 1 July 2024 to date.

This correspondence comprises two categories:

• Correspondence regarding the ongoing Stobo judicial review case which has been withheld under regulation 10(5)(b) (prejudice to the course of justice).
• Correspondence between Scottish Forestry and third parties which is being partially released, regulations 10(5)(e) (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) and11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested and has been redacted on the requested correspondence.

Please find attached the information we are releasing in relation 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 10(4)(a) (information not held), 10(5)(b) (substantial prejudice to course of justice), 10(5)(e) (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information)) and 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data relating to a third party) applies to some of the information you have requested.

Please see Annex A for the reason(s) this/these exception(s) apply.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202400439411 - Information released - Annex A

File type

PDF

File size

80.9 kB

EIR 202400439411 - Information Released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

993.8 kB