Consultation on the dualling of the A96: EIR release

Information requested

All documents relating to the engagement of consultants for the purposes of the consultation on the dualling of the A96, carried out.

In particular I seek sight of the documents comprising the terms of engagement of the consultants and the amount and calculation of the fees and payments for their advice; and whether it is considered that value for money was obtained in this work; and the total costs for this work.

In addition I request whether there are further works to be carried out by consultants on this matter, post the consultation which was completed some time ago; And full details of all such additional costs.

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.

Response to your request

I can confirm that the technical advisors for the A96 Corridor Review are appointed under the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) Consultancy Support Services Contract. Please see Annex A which contains Appendix I from the STPR2 Draft Technical Report published in January 2022. Section 3 of Appendix I outlines the approach to be taken to the A96 Corridor Review.

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 A contained within this response.

With respect to your request for information on the ‘terms of engagement of the consultants and the amount and calculation of the fees and payments for their advice’ an exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by the appointed technical advisors and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests.

Disclosing this information would be likely to give future tenderers an advantage in future tender exercises and may also substantially prejudice the tenderer’s 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 tender for Transport Scotland’s contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

The total spent on the A96 Corridor Review, including consultation as part of the Review, up to the date of your request is £5,903,697.25.

The total spent to date on the A96 Corridor Review reflects the extensive appraisal and assessment work that is required to appropriately inform this review and includes consideration of the large number of responses received through the initial consultation exercise and intensive sifting process to determine the initial options for further appraisal.

This expenditure is not unreasonable given the length and complexity of the corridor subject to the Review and the extent of the specialist appraisal and assessment work required to be undertaken by our appointed technical advisors to properly inform the Review.

The Corridor Review is being undertaken in accordance with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) which supports the Scottish Government’s objectives by providing a clear framework to assess evidence based transport problems and opportunities. It does so by promoting robust, objective-led analysis that can be consistently applied in all transport appraisal contexts.

The review’s initial consultation generated unprecedented interest with over 11,000 suggested options for improving the corridor, and it is only right that they be fully appraised. Given the sheer volume of responses received and the high number of options this generated, it has rightly taken Transport Scotland more time that originally anticipated to examine and appraise all of these. Following publication of the initial appraisal report and the accompanying consultation report at the end of 2022, Transport Scotland has progressed the necessary further detailed work to inform the remaining stages of the review.

More recently this has included the detailed appraisal of the remaining options as well as engagement with stakeholders and the development of the further assessment, including a Climate Compatibility Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Statutory Impact Assessments (Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment, Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment, Equality Impact Assessment and a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment), required to inform the Review. The outcomes of this review are expected to be ready in the coming months for public consultation, before a final decision can be reached.

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 202400421992 - Information Released - Annex A

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12 page PDF

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990.9 kB