Publication - FOI/EIR release

Amey contract for carriageway maintenance: EIR release

Published: 6 December 2023
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300354738
Date received: 2 May 2023
Date responded: 19 May 2023

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

What contract conditions are in place on Amey to ensure a reasonable level of carriageway maintenance?
What contract conditions relate to the environmental impacts?
How is contractor performance measured?
What penalties can be imposed on Amey for breaches.
How long the Amey contract will run?
Are there any grounds for an early termination of this contract?

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

1. Most of the information you have requested is available from South west trunk roads operating company contract. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Information in relation to question 1 can be found in Schedule 2 Scope Section 2 Defects, Hazard Notices & Observations Resulting from Inspections and the Trunk Road Information Manual, a copy of which can be found at Annex A to this response.

2. Most of the information you have requested is available from South west trunk roads operating company contract. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Information in relation to question 2 can be found in the following locations:

Schedule 1 Conditions of Contract Clause 2 Operating Company’s main responsibilities Sub-clause 2.30 Environmental Licensing
Schedule 2 Scope Section 8 Design Construction and Certification of Operations Sub-section 8.6 Environmental Licensing

3. Most of the information you have requested is available from South west trunk roads operating company contract. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Please refer to Schedule 3 Section 9 Measuring Performance and Annex B for the current iteration of Schedule 3 Appendix 9 Measuring Performance Attachments being adhered to in the South West Unit.

4. Most of the information you have requested is available from South west trunk roads operating company contract. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

In response to question 4, we do not impose penalties on Operating Companies for breaches (nonconformances).

Non-conformances are dealt with by a number of approaches detailed in Schedule 1 Conditions of Contract Clause 4 Quality Management and Schedule 3 Contract Management Section 9 Measuring Performance 9.3 Payment Adjustment Factors.

5. In response to question 5 the South West Network Management Contract commenced in August 2020 and will run for 8 years, with the option to extend up to a further 4 years.

6. Most of the information you have requested is available from South west trunk roads operating company contract. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

In response to question 6 the grounds for an early termination of this contract are contained within Schedule 1 Conditions of Contract Clause 9 Termination.

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.