Pot hole claim records for specific trunk roads: EIR release

Information requested

"1) The number of compensation claims made for pothole claims in the last five years on (A) A75 (b) A77 (C) A82- Dalnottar to Inverness (d) A9 (e) A84 Stirling- Crianlarich. (F) A701 Dumfries-Edinburgh (G) A96 Aberdeen to Inverness
2) How many of these claims on each trunk road were (A) successful or b (unsuccessful)
3) On the successful bids, what was the average pay out for each of the trunk roads listed?
4) Over the last five years, what was the spending on road maintenance on each of the roads listed?"
Further clarifications confirmed that you wished the information provided over calendar years and that you also required the same information for the A85.

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.

To aid with this response i have retained the numbering from your questions above.
Please see annex a to this response for information relating to questions 1 and 2.
With regard to question 3 An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to 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 competitors thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. Disclosing this information would be likely to give competitors an advantage in future tendering exercises, which would substantially prejudice their ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm their commercial business. 

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. 

However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which enter into Transport Scotland contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.
Q4 - Please see annex b to this response for details on financial spend for the routes and timeframe you are interested in.

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.

FOI-202000051036 - Information released - Annex A

File type

1 page PDF

File size

58.8 kB

FOI-202000051036 - Information released - Annex B

File type

1 page PDF

File size

41.2 kB