Building and fire safety working group: EIR release

Information requested

1.Provide the update SG Officials provided on the Single Building Assessment (SBA), including any notes, briefings and slides circulated or prepare.
2. Detail the the make-up of the buildings included in the pilot phase which illustrates the "range of different building sizes and issues to ensure the SBA process is robust.
3. Provide the evidence submitted by applicants which demonstrates, with the necessary redactions of personal data and property locations, that 24 have secured specialist services from fire engineers and surveyors, including but not limited the notes of contract of specialists services being secured.
4. Provide the evidence submitted by applicants which demonstrates, with the necessary redactions of personal data and property locations, that a further 14 having secured specialist contractors completing SBAs.
5. Provide samples or templates to the applicants which demonstrates how the Scottish Government has communicated to the five buildings which do not require further inspections, they are discharged from the pilot.
6. Provide samples or template letter issued to the applicants who are from the three buildings which have been issued a grant letter, please provide the breakdown and total grant funding amounts of grant.
7. Provide the final SBA report for the one building that has completed physical inspections and their final SBA report is being prepared.
8. Confirm the status of the one full Single Building Assessment which was expected to be completed by the end of 2021 and the further six completed by the end of the 2021-22 financial year.
9. Provide details and notes of any questions asked and answered at the session.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested for questions 1, 3 and 7 as exceptions under regulations 10(4)(e); 10(5)(a) and 11(2) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Some of the information you have requested is available from: Building and fire safety working group minutes: December 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) – Question 9. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 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.

To answer your other questions:

2. The SBA pilot program has buildings ranging from 4 storeys through to 20m+ high rises. Several types of cladding systems have been found across pilot buildings which are undergoing technical assessment.
4. There are 25 properties in the pilot and we do not hold information on whether individuals have made alternative arrangements prior to the programme being made Scotland wide.
5. The ongoing pilot continues to have 25 buildings.
6. Information on spend will be published on the 9th May 2022. Please see attached grant offer letter template.
8. These buildings have been built with complex cladding systems and therefore require complex engineering works to understand the scale of the problem. We are taking a thorough approach by applying the new PAS 9980 external wall appraisal British Standard aligned with the Single Building Assessment guidance which is in compliance with the overarching Scottish Advice Note.

This ensures we do not just assess the external wall but also look at all fire safety concerns of each of the 25 buildings in the pilot. The one SBA noted in the minute is undergoing technical due diligence, and of the other six, one completed SBA has been received and is also undergoing technical due diligence. Grants have now been issued to the other five buildings to enable them to progress their Single Building Assessments.

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