Questions regarding road maintenance and compensation costs: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03094  
Date received: 24 October 2018 
Date responded: 6 December 2018

 

Information requested

 

“We are launching a public interest campaign advising motorists on road safety this winter. To highlight the dangers we need the statistical answers to the questions below. 

Please can you submit your answers using the attached spreadsheet?

 

1. What has been your road maintenance spend in each of the following years?

1st Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014

1st Oct 2014 - 1st Oct 2015

1st Oct 2015 - 1st Oct 2016

1st Oct 2016 - 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 - 1st Oct 2018

 

2. What is the total number of potholes which have been filled by Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators in each of of the following years?

1st Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014

1st Oct 2014 - 1st Oct 2015

1st Oct 2015 - 1st Oct 2016

1st Oct 2016 - 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 - 1st Oct 2018

 

3. What is the total amount of pothole compensation claims that have been made against Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators in each of the following years?

1st Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014

1st Oct 2014 - 1st Oct 2015

1st Oct 2015 - 1st Oct 2016

1st Oct 2016 - 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 - 1st Oct 2018

 

4. What is the total amount of pothole compensation claims that have been successful upheld when made against Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators in each of the following years?

1st Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014

1st Oct 2014 - 1st Oct 2015

1st Oct 2015 - 1st Oct 2016

1st Oct 2016 - 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 - 1st Oct 2018

 

5. What has been the total cost to Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators as a result of compensation payments relating to claims made as a result of vehicle damage related to roads/potholes in each of the following years?

1st Oct 2013 - 1st Oct 2014

1st Oct 2014 - 1st Oct 2015

1st Oct 2015 - 1st Oct 2016

1st Oct 2016 - 1st Oct 2017

1st Oct 2017 - 1st Oct 2018

 

6. What has been the average payout for successfully upheld compensation claims, as a result of vehicle damage related to roads/potholes, in each of the following years?”

To which we clarified with you on 1 November whether you required this information for the financial year or calendar year. Your response on 6 November was;

“I don't mind if we receive the information for calendar or financial year.”

 

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.

 

I have numbered our response for ease of reference.

 

1. Most of the information you have requested is available from the following link;

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-00626/

We have provided this information to you in financial years. 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 addition to the information provided, the road maintenance spend from 1 October 2017 to    31 March 2018 was £124,455,613. The total spend for 2017/18 was £203,058,138.

From 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 the total spend is £96,522,289. 

In relation to our DBFO contracts for the M77, M80 and M6/A74 roads, an exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to all of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by our DBFO companies and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. The Companies are stand alone operators who operate the DBFO section for a set period of time, normally 30 years. These companies have their own shareholders and financial information and expenditure which is confidential.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money.

For the AWPR and the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements projects, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) (Information not held) of the EIRs. The reason why this exception applies is due to the procurement model of both projects, the amount spent on maintenance and repairs to the project roads is not held by Transport Scotland and cannot be disaggregated any cost information held. . A map showing the extents of the project roads associated with the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements project can be found at the following link:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/35612/m8-m73-m74-scheme-map.jpg.

 

2. Similar to question 1, most of the information you have requested is available from the following link;

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-00626/

We have provided this information to you in financial years. 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 addition, from 1 April 2018 to 24 October 2018 a total of 6137 potholes have been filled by Transport Scotland’s Trunk Road Operators.

 

3. The majority of the information you have requested is available from the following link;

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-00626/

We have provided this information to you in financial years. 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 addition, from 1 April 2018 to 1 October 2018 the total amount of pothole compensation claims that has been made against Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators is 434.

 

4. The total amount of pothole compensation claims that has been successfully upheld when made against Transport Scotland/Trunk Road Operators is listed in the table below.

 

1 Oct 2013 – 31 Mar 2014	1 Apr 2014 - 31 Mar 2015	1 Apr 2015 - 31 Mar 2016	1 Apr 2016 - 31 Mar 2017	1 Apr 2017 - 1 Oct 2018
59	84	287	149	227

 

 

5 and 6. In response to question 5 and 6, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.  Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.  The reasons why that exception applies is that Transport Scotland does not hold this information.

 

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