A9 Tay Crossing archaeological investigation work: EIR release

Information requested

All documents setting out the rationale for the approval of the sum of circa £2m for archaeological work including why this work is necessary; how the figure of £2 Million was arrived at - whether the Cabinet Secretary for Transport approved the costs and the work or whether this was decided by Transport Scotland ; And why this particular work has been chosen for this expenditure; and whether HES was consulted; and to provide the factual and evidential basis for the expense of this large sum of money and what it is hoped to reveal and what evidence there is that provides a basis for believing that anything of value will be found.

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.

The archaeological investigation work referred to in your question is required to meet the commitments set out in Chapter 15 and Chapter 21 of the Environmental Statement for the Pitlochry to Killiecrankie project, published in December 2017. The Environmental Statement is available here: Draft Orders and Environmental Statement - Pitlochry to Killiecrankie - A9 Dualling | Transport Scotland

Chapter 7 of the Environment Statement sets out the consultation undertaken in undertaking and reporting environmental assessment work, which included consultation with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). HES was also consulted on the design of the archaeological investigation works.

In accordance with the relevant procedures, approval to award the contract for the archaeological investigation works was given by Transport Scotland’s Investment Decision Making Board. The rationale for award of this contract is set out in the attached papers: A9 Dualling: Tay Crossing to Ballinluig - Archaeological Investigations - IDM paper - approval to award - Nov 2024 and A9 Dualling Tay Crossing to Ballinluig – Report on the Overall Evaluation of Mini-Competition Submissions. Annex A and Annex B to the A9 Dualling: Tay Crossing to Ballinluig - Archaeological Investigations - IDM paper - approval to award - Nov 2024 are considered not to be within the scope of your request, as they were prepared to inform prior decisions and were referred to in this paper as background information.

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 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.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(E) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(4)(e) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(F) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(5)(e) allows authorities to withhold information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is provided for by law to protect a legitimate economic interest.

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport was informed of the intent to award this contract following approval to award being confirmed by Transport Scotland’s Investment Decision Making Board. As noted in the papers, the contract award sum was established through competitive procurement between three parties via the Multi-Supplier Framework Agreement For Archaeology Services Lot 3 - High Value ‘non-invasive and invasive investigations’ and ‘post-excavation services’.

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 202400446088 - Information released - Annex

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