The first phase of the Bus Abatement Retrofit Programme (BEAR): EIR release
- Published
- 27 November 2018
- Topic
- Public sector, Transport
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Date received: 31 October 2018
Date responded: 27 November 2018
You asked for the following information on the first phase of the Bus Abatement Retrofit Programme (BEAR) announced in January 2018:
- How much has been paid out under the Programme and a breakdown of spend.
- How many applications have been received and how many have been approved.
- A percentage rate of success.
- A breakdown of time taken between application and approval of application.
- A breakdown of allocation by Local Authority area.
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.
- From the date of your request, £174,598 has been paid out via the BEAR Phase 1 programme. The Energy Saving Trust administers the scheme on behalf of Transport Scotland. Please note that conversions are underway and by the time you receive this response the level of grant paid out may be higher.
The breakdown is as follows:
| Operator |
Total Grant |
Paid out to date |
Number of vehicles |
| 2 |
£146,741 |
£67,774 |
7 |
| 3 |
£93,092 |
£47,117 |
5 |
| 4 |
£64,250 |
£32,125 |
4 |
| 5 |
Up to £75,000 |
£27,582 |
3 |
| Operator |
Total Grant allocated |
Number of Vehicles |
| 1 |
£172,710 |
9 |
| 2 |
£146,741 |
7 |
| 3 |
£93,092 |
5 |
| 4 |
£64,250 |
4 |
| 5 |
£75,000 |
3 |
| 6 |
£138,824 |
7 |
| 7 |
£174,993 |
7 |
| 8 |
£125,000 |
5 |
- Nine applications were received in total. However, it should be noted that one operator submitted a second application which superseded their first, resulting in eight final applications.
- Of the eight final applications, all were successful. The percentage rate of success for those who applied for funding is therefore 100%.
- Applications for the scheme were received in February 2018, an assessment panel was held on the 14 March 2018 and offer letters were issued on the 3 March 2018.
- While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why this exception applies is that we do not hold a breakdown of the allocation of funding by local authority areas.
However, the following table may be of use as it shows a breakdown of the Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) covered by each operator to secure funding.
| Operator |
AQMA(s) affected |
| 1 |
Glasgow |
| 2 |
Glasgow |
| 3 |
Lanark and Motherwell |
| 4 |
Aberdeen |
| 5 |
Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow |
| 6 |
Glasgow, Johnstone and Paisley |
| 7 |
Dundee |
| 8 |
Coatbridge, Chapelhall, Motherwell, Lanark, Broxburn, Edinburgh City Centre, Glasgow Road, St. Johns |
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
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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