Free Bikes Pilot Schemes for School Age Children: FOI Review

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

Original request 202400438413

Using FOI Scotland could you tell me how many children and the numbers in each area who received a free bicycle from the SNP government? I would also like to know how much each bicycle cost and how much it cost to run to rack up 4 million of taxpayers money?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

With a fresh consideration of your question, I would like to clarify that the way in which the pilot scheme was delivered, it is not possible to extract the data in the way you have requested.

The pilot scheme was predominantly delivered by third sector organisations and rather than allocate a bike per child in a specific area, many of them operated temporary loan schemes, or bike libraries- with approximately one bike for every three to four children under that approach. This was delivered by individual projects using different delivery models, and data was therefore recorded on a project-byproject basis, rather than by local authority or regional level. In addition, the projects were asked to report how many bikes they delivered, and they were not requested to provide that information by Local Authority.

Each of these organisations were mandated to deliver end of pilot evaluation reports, to asses the impact of their projects. To provide a sense of the data reported, one charity reported that between August 2021 and March 2023, 278 bicycles were provided to 169 families, with a further 10 Additional Support Needs (ASN) bicycles to 8 families, and an additional two bicycles going to the school.

Further details on the pilot can be found in the research evaluation published in 2022 (Evaluation of Free Bikes Pilots for School Age Children Who Cannot Afford Them - Final Evaluation Report | Transport Scotland)

Decision: Points 1, 2, and 3: The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested

The Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because this information was not collected as part of the evaluation. It was the number of bikes, rather than number of children that was counted.

As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Point 4: How much it cost to run to rack up 4 million of taxpayers money?"

The response contained in the original request holds and remains factually correct. This was that the total cost of the pilot programme from August 2021 to March 2023 was £4,006,785. This includes the costs to run the pilot projects such as staffing and other overheads, and the cost of safety accessories such as helmets, lights and locks.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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