A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) dualling scheme: EIR release

Information requested

1. All briefings, correspondence, emails, letters, dates and notes of meetings and telephone conversations, between 16 February 2021 and the present day betweenTransport Scotland officials and Scottish Government officials regarding thetimeline, funding, construction and delivery of the A96 Inverness to Nairn (includingNairn Bypass) scheme?

2. Please confirm the following:

1. The total number of compulsory purchase orders required for this project?
2. The total number of compulsory purchase orders which have beenconcluded and the number left outstanding?
3. The total amount that has been spent on compulsory purchase orders forthis scheme so far?

3. What is the total amount that has been spent on the A96 Inverness to Nairn(including Nairn Bypass) scheme to date?

Following receipt of your request for information we sent an email on 12 October 2022 for clarification and received the following response:
“Thank you for your email. To clarify, I would be very grateful for all correspondence between Transport Scotland officials and The Minister for Transport (including their own Officials / Special Advisors) as well as the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport (including their own officials / Special Advisors).”

Response

As all of 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.

1. All briefings, correspondence, emails, letters, dates and notes of meetings andtelephone conversations, between 16 February 2021 and the present day betweenTransport Scotland officials and The Minister for Transport (including their own Officials /Special Advisors) as well as the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport(including their own officials / Special Advisors) regarding the timeline, funding,construction and delivery of the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme?

Please refer to Annex A and Annex B in response to your request for information which includes relevant extracts of the information requested between Transport Scotland officials and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport and/or the Minister for Transport from 16 February 2021 to 11 October 2022 in relation to timeline, funding, construction and delivery of the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information because it is internal communication between Transport Scotland officials and Scottish Ministers about the delivery of the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme. This exception has been applied to Annex A contained within this response. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

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 some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in maintaining high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications.

Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether discussions on delivery of the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme, may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on the delivery of the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) while it is still under development. The information requested is internal communication regarding development of government policy and if released would otherwise impact on effective conduct of public affairs.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception(s) under regulation(s) 11(2) of the EIRs applies to that information.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. This exception has been applied to Annex B contained within this response.

2.1. The total number of compulsory purchase orders required for this project?

One compulsory purchase order has been published in draft for this project. A copy of the draft compulsory purchase order is available to view on the Transport Scotland website at https://www.transport.gov.scot/projects/a96-dualling-inverness-to-aberdeen/a96-inverness-to-nairn-including-nairn-bypass/a96-inverness-to-nairn-including-nairn-bypass/#45304. It is not envisaged at this stage that any additional compulsory purchase orders will be required to be published for the project.

2.2. The total number of compulsory purchase orders which have been concluded and the number left outstanding?

The compulsory purchase order which has been published in draft has not yet been made. Transport Scotland is currently progressing the work required to prepare for its publication in the coming weeks.

2.3. The total amount that has been spent on compulsory purchase orders for this scheme so far?

Zero. As outlined in the response to 2.2, the compulsory purchase order has not yet been made and title has not yet been taken to the land included in the compulsory purchase order, therefore, no compensation is due or has been paid to date.

3. What is the total amount that has been spent on the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme to date?

The total spent on the A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) up to the date of your request is £29,560,913.16. This includes the necessary design and assessment work required to develop scheme proposals along with site investigatory works and surveys etc, and progress the scheme through statutory procedures.

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 202200324323 - Information Released - Annex A

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16 page PDF

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451.5 kB

FOI 202200324323 - Information Released - Annex B

File type

12 page PDF

File size

2.5 MB