Transport Scotland - ScotRail correspondence: FOI release

Information requested

1. The Scottish Government promised £200m to cut rail times between north east Scotland and Edinburgh in 2016. How much of this money has been spent and can you supply the latest briefings, correspondence and policy analysis about this from the last year?

2. Could you supply all correspondence between Transport Scotland and the Scottish Greens about peak time rail fares, from the last six months?

3. Could you supply all documentation held, including briefings, correspondence received and sent (including internally), minutes/notes from meetings, policy analysis, about female-only carriages, from the last six months?

4. Could you supply the full analysis and costs of whether the peak fares pilot was a success?

5. Could you supply all documentation held, including briefings, correspondence received and sent (including internally), minutes/notes from meetings, policy analysis, about the alcohol ban, from the last six months?

Response

1. Regarding the first part of your request, the total invested to 9th November 2024 (Railway Period 8 – 2024) on projects to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and the Central Belt is £23.1 million.

In terms of the second part of your request for briefings, correspondence and policy analysis, please note that the Scottish Government holds a large number of documents, which could fall in the scope of your request. Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information you have requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.

Under section 12 of FOISA, public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may wish to reduce the scope of your request to make it more manageable to allow us to comply with your request without breaching the cost of compliance limit. You could consider making your request more specific by reducing time frames for your request or stating what type of documentation you are looking for. Please note that, there is a large volume of information stored on our data base which would need to be sifted and prepared for release.

If you would like to reduce the scope of your request, you may find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

1. We have interpreted your request as being correspondence between Transport Scotland and the Scottish Greens Party. The correspondence held by the Scottish Government and falling in the scope of this part of your request is provided in Annex A.

1. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for. Some of the information requested may be held by ScotRail. You could contact ScotRail via the website at Contact ScotRail | ScotRail.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

1. The final evaluation report of the ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot, which contains information you have requested was published on Transport Scotland’s website on 20 August. Please see a link to the report: ScotRail Peak Fares Removal Pilot - Final Evaluation Report - August 2024 | Transport Scotland.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

1. Your requested documents are contained in Annex B.

Whilst we aim to provide the information wherever possible, some of the information in the attached annexes has been redacted in line with the following FOISA exemptions:

Section 29(1)(a) – Formulation or development of government policy.

This exemption applies to the information you have requested because it relates to the development of the Government’s policy in relation to the alcohol ban on ScotRail services.

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 found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. 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 high quality policy and decision making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and investigate the information rigorously, to fully understand its possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on any future policy will be disclosed, which may undermine or constrain the Government’s future view on any future policy while it is still under discussion or development.

Section 29(1)(b) - Ministerial communications

An exemption under section 29(1)(b) of FOISA - Ministerial communications, applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption recognises the need for Scottish Ministers to have a private space within which they can communicate openly. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the openness and frankness of exchanges of communication between Ministers in the future.

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.

We recognise 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 Ministers can exchange information, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s decision making process. This private space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good quality decisions can be taken. Disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank communication between Ministers, which in turn, will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data of a third party

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, 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 exemption 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 exemption.

Please note, information that has been redacted has been clearly marked with the relevant exemption i.e. 29(1)(b). The remaining information that has been redacted is that which falls into the exemption of section 38(1)(b) – third party personal data.

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.

FOI 202400440114 - Information Released - Annex A

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103.7 kB

FOI 202400440114 - Information Released - Annex B

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647.9 kB