Scotland’s Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) information: FOI release

Information requested

Between August 2020 and 2023 (I’m unsure exactly when the scheme ended) Cycling UK administered, on behalf of Transport Scotland, the above scheme.

Link to Transport Scotland webpage; https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/cycle-repair-scheme-launched-to-keep-scotland-pedalling/

The Cycling UK webpage suggests that over 80,000 repairs were carried out in this time; https://www.cyclinguk.org/ScotCycleRepair.

A Parliamentary question raised at Holyrood indicated that between May 2021 and January 2023, “70,070 repairs at a financial value of £3,503,500” were provided across Scotland through SCRS.

An image on the Cycling UK webpage indicates that an SCRS Impact Report was produced by Cycling UK.

I expect that, given they were appointed to administer and deliver the scheme on behalf of Transport Scotland, that this report would have been presented to Transport Scotland.

However, I cannot seem to access any iteration of this report online.

Given that over £3.5M of public monies was spent on this project, I would like to request:

a) the specific dates of when the SCRS began and ended in Scotland?

b) in the time period above, how many repairs were carried out across Scotland and at what cost to the public purse?

c) could the answer to b. be further broken down by local authority area, i.e. specifically in each local authority, what were the total number of repairs and what were the total cost of repairs and in each local authority, what were the number of repairs and what were the cost of repairs for each calendar month of the scheme’s existence?

d) a copy of the Cycling UK Impact Report (or reports if there are more than one) that was/were provided to Transport Scotland as part of the reporting and evaluation of the scheme.

e) any other relevant information from Transport Scotland that can evidence the scheme’s success or impact or learning.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested as follows:

a) The Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) launched on 3rd August 2020 and ended on 31 March 2023.

b)

Year	Total Funding Amount	Repairs Completed
2020 - 2021	£1,500,000	31,562
2021 – 2022	£1,000,000	20,151
2022 - 2023	£1,500,000	30,128

c) We do not hold the data in the format requested, but can share the following breakdown by Local Authority, and number of partner organisations, rather than number of repairs per Local Authority.

Data for 2020-21

Local authorities	Total grant received	Number of organisations
Aberdeen	£32,000.00	10
Aberdeenshire	£89,500.00	18
Angus	£38,500.00	9
Argyll and Bute	£52,500.00	12
Clackmannanshire	£2,000.00	1
Dumfries and Galloway	£74,500.00	14
Dundee	£19,000.00	4
East Ayrshire	£24,000.00	6
East Dunbartonshire	£31,000.00	5
East Lothian	£40,000.02	6
East Renfrewshire	£9,000.00	3
Edinburgh	£154,110.00	36
Falkirk	£19,660.98	4
Fife	£88,939.00	20
Glasgow	£169,000.00	34
Highland	£112,400.00	29
Inverclyde	£19,500.00	4
Midlothian	£25,000.00	7
Moray	£23,000.00	5
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£2,000.00	1
North Ayrshire	£27,000.00	6
North Lanarkshire	£66,500.00	13
Orkney	£9,000.00	2
Perth and Kinross	£77,000.00	18
Renfrewshire	£58,000.00	10
Scottish Borders	£41,000.00	12
Shetland	£11,000.00	1
South Ayrshire	£25,900.00	8
South Lanarkshire	£53,000.00	10
Stirling	£38,000.00	8
West Dunbartonshire	£27,990.00	6
West Lothian	£40,000.00	8
Grand Total	£1,500,000.00	330

Data for 2021-22

Local Authority	Total Grant Received	Number of Organisation Locations
Aberdeen City	£33,000.00	9
Aberdeenshire	£58,000.00	15
Angus	£19,050.00	7
Argyll and Bute	£42,000.00	13
City of Edinburgh	£108,600.00	30
Clackmannanshire	£3,500.00	3
Dumfries and Galloway	£47,500.00	14
Dundee City	£20,500.00	6
East Ayrshire	£10,500.00	4
East Dunbartonshire	£24,500.00	7
East Lothian	£22,000.00	6
East Renfrewshire	£8,000.00	4
Falkirk	£15,500.00	3
Fife	£47,000.00	16
Glasgow City	£91,600.00	25
Highland	£52,700.00	23
Inverclyde	£6,500.00	2
Midlothian	£23,500.00	8
Moray	£14,500.00	3
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£2,000.00	1
North Ayrshire	£23,500.00	8
North Lanarkshire	£40,950.00	12
Orkney Islands	£4,000.00	2
Perth and Kinross	£50,100.00	16
Renfrewshire	£64,250.00	13
Scottish Borders	£24,250.00	9
Shetland Islands	£8,000.00	1
South Ayrshire	£16,500.00	6
South Lanarkshire	£50,000.00	11
Stirling	£22,500.00	8
West Dumbartonshire	£15,000.00	5
West Lothian	£30,500.00	7
Grand Total	£1,000,000.00	297

Data for 2022-23

Local Authority	Total Grant Received	Number of Organisation Locations
Aberdeen	£60,410.00	10
Aberdeenshire	£78,910.00	17
Angus	£34,205.00	7
Argyll and Bute	£34,000.00	8
Clackmannanshire	£2,000.00	1
Dumfries and Galloway	£48,205.00	12
Dundee	£46,705.00	8
East Ayrshire	£23,705.00	4
East Dunbartonshire	£18,000.00	5
East Lothian	£27,000.00	5
East Renfrewshire	£15,500.00	4
Edinburgh	£185,510.00	29
Falkirk	£29,705.00	4
Fife	£61,410.00	13
Glasgow	£150,540.00	23
Highland	£86,405.00	24
Inverclyde	£12,705.00	2
Midlothian	£37,455.00	6
Moray	£25,705.00	5
North Ayrshire	£27,205.00	6
North Lanarkshire	£73,910.00	11
Orkney	£2,000.00	1
Perth and Kinross	£87,305.00	17
Renfrewshire	£79,410.00	11
Scottish Borders	£25,205.00	7
Shetland	£10,000.00	1
South Ayrshire	£19,705.00	5
South Lanarkshire	£70,115.00	10
Stirling	£43,955.00	8
West Dunbartonshire	£37,410.00	6
West Lothian	£45,705.00	7
Grand Total	£1,500,000.00	277

We can also share the number of repairs by calendar month of the scheme’s existence: Please see attachment 'Repairs by date charts' attached to this response.

d) Redacted versions of the three Cycling Uk Impact Reports requested have been provided. 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 exemptions under sections s.33(1)(b) Commercial Information and s.38(1)(b) Personal Information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why those exemptions apply are explained below.

Exemptions under sections s.33(1)(b) Commercial Information and s.38(1)(b) Personal Information of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. Section s.33(1)(b) Commercial Information applies as releasing the information could substantially prejudice the commercial interests of an organisation, and section s,38(1)(b) Personal Information applies as some of the information is personal to a third party. These exemptions are 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 exemptions. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because the public are interested in how the scheme operates and who it involves. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the privacy of participants/partners and the operations of an organisation.

e) While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't hold the information are explained below.

Having searched our databases, Transport Scotland does not hold any supplementary information that can evidence the scheme’s success, impact or learning beyond what has already been shared above.

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.

FOI 202500452187 - Information released - Annex

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