Documentation about the commitment to reduce car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030: EIR release

Information requested

PART ONE
Could you supply all documentation held by Transport Scotland about the commitment to reduce car kilometres by 20 per cent by 2030, including correspondence sent and received, including internal, briefings and minutes/notes from meetings, from the last three months?

PART TWO
Could you supply the current progress made on this goal, including how many cars have been removed and how many still to go?

PART THREE
Could you supply the latest risks register/assessment on this policy?

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.

PART ONE
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible. for part one of your request, your request is refused under exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs where a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in Annex A to this letter.

PART TWO
In terms of progress on the commitment to reduce car use by 20%, the Cabinet Secretary has recently provided parliament with an update on this commitment in response to Parliamentary Question S6O-04409. This restates the assessment of the policy as contained in the Climate Change Monitoring Report published May 2024.

Your request for information on “how many cars have been removed and how many still to go?” is refused under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs information not held. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

The reasons why that exception applies are explained in Annex A to this letter.

PART THREE
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

The latest assessment and update on this policy is outlined in the answer to part two above. The latest risk register is attached to this response as annex B

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 exceptions under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications of the EIRs) applies to that information. The reasons why those exceptions apply are explained in Annex A to this letter.

ANNEX A

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Exceptions apply.

For part one of your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under the exception at regulation 10(4)(b) of the EIRs a public authority may refuse a request for information if it is 'manifestly unreasonable'. The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on the regulation 10(4)(b) exception at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/EIRs/EIRsExceptions.aspx says that there may “be instances where it is appropriate for the Commissioner to consider the proportionality of the burden on the public authority in terms of the costs and resources involved in dealing with a request when considering the application of this exception”.

As the exception is conditional we have applied the 'public interest test'. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing 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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the Scottish Government's commitment to a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the efficient and effective use of public resources by not incurring excessive costs when complying with information requests.

Searches were conducted and sample results demonstrated a high volume of information returned for this request. You may however wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order to make it manageable. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

For part two, exception under regulations exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs information not held is applied.

Your request for information on “how many cars have been removed and how many still to go?” is refused under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs information not held.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), 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 policy does not contain any target to “remove” cars, and the only target being to reduce the number of car kilometres driven within Scotland. The commitment contained within the December 2020 Climate Change Plan (update)- CCP(u) is “To address our overreliance on cars, we will reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030”

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 as clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

For part three, an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIR applies to some of the information you have requested.

The exemption 10 (4)(e) 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 where appropriate, and releasing where the public interest lies in favour of disclosing the information.

We recognise that there is some public interest in information about the Scottish Government's commitment to a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030. However, risk registers by nature may contain hypothetical scenarios that if released may cause confusion to the general public and in isolation, present an inaccurate representation of the policy in question.

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.

EIR 202500454319 - Information released - Annex B

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