Rural Support Plan spend: EIR release

Information requested

The total spending by the Scottish Government so far on the Rural Support Plan.

The total spending by the Scottish Government to produce the draft Rural Support plan.

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.

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, namely the cost(s) incurred by Scottish Government officials working on the Rural Support Plan. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Civil Servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of the work at any given time. They do not, as a matter of course, record the proportion of their time spent working on particular matters. It is therefore not possible to say specifically how much time has been spent and the subsequent cost involved with work on the Rural Support Plan by Civil Servants.

There has been no other cost associated with the Rural Support Plan to date and the answer to your questions is therefore nil.

Further background is available as part of our response to EIR request 202400432713 which was published on 17 October 2024 and can be located here: www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400432713.

Additional background is available in a parliamentary question response on 22 November 2024 and can be located here: www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-31439.

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.