Publication - FOI/EIR release

Animals found on the road figures: EIR release

Published: 7 December 2020
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202000091928
Date received: 28 September 2020
Date responded: 23 October 2020

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

Information requested

You asked for "the following data points regarding dead animals found on the road network you manage for the period from 01 June 2019 and the 13 September 2020.

The count and types of animals found on each road split by species (dog, badger, cat etc.)
The volume of reports by month split by road name and animal type
Animals removed from roads split by geographic region and animal type for the period
The volume of reports not responded to, split by region and animal type"

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 aide with this response I have retained the numbering from your request above.

1-3. Please see annex A to this response. The number of animals found on the roads is the same as the number of animals removed.

4. All reports of animals on the network were responded to.

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