Dualling of single-line railway between Montrose and Arbroath: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02673
Date received: 1 November 2017
Date responded: 10 January 2018

Information requested

Email correspondence between Humza Yousaf and a) Network Rail, b) Transport Scotland regarding the dualling of the single line railway between Montrose and Arbroath, between the period 01 January 2016 to 07 December 2017.

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.

We do endeavour to provide information whenever possible. The table below lists the information held by Transport Scotland for the period you specify including one document out with the dates specified, and these emails/documents are attached.

Item	Date	From	Document Title
1	06/06/17	TS	Aberdeen to Central Belt Reference Group Ministerial Update (including two attachments listed below).
1(i)	February 2017	TS	Aberdeen to Central Belt – Review Team Meeting
1(ii)	N/A	TS	Aberdeen to Central Belt – Reference Group – Terms of Reference
2	12/12/17	TS	Aberdeen to Central Belt Reference Group Ministerial Update
2(i)	12/12/17	TS	Aberdeen to Central Belt – Reference Group

Some of the information you have requested is available, details of where that specific information can be obtained, can be accessed via the following links:

The following references relate to parliamentary questions, S5W-05985, S5W-00947, S5W-00948, S5W-00949, S5W-00950, S5W-00951 S5W-00952, which can be viewed via the parliamentary business link below:

• http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

In addition, to assist with your enquiry, the web references to official news releases are provided:

• https://news.gov.scot/news/north-east-gets-new-dedicated-team-to-address-rail-issues

• https://www.nestrans.org.uk/news/north-east-gets-new-dedicated-team-to-address-rail-issues/

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.

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(s) under regulation(s) reg 10(4)(e) (internal communications of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception(s) applies are explained below.

Reasons for not providing information

An exception applies.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(4)(e) - internal communications. An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs internal communications applies to some of the information you have requested because it relates to internal exchanges and release could compromise our collective ability to reach an agreed policy position.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between officials whilst we are still developing an agreed policy position.

About FOI

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foi17-02673 - related email correspondence.pdf

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9 page PDF

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