Communications between Scottish Government and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding water scarcity levels: EIR release

Information requested

1. When the issue of water scarcity was last discussed at a meeting of the Cabinet?

2. What communication has taken place between the Scottish Government and SEPA since May 2025 regarding water scarcity?

3. What communication has taken place between the Scottish Government and SEPA since May 2025 regarding water levels?

4. When the relevant Cabinet members and ministers were first informed about the risk of moderate and severe water scarcity levels in the east of Scotland?

Response

Request for information and copies of communications in relation to water scarcity levels in Scotland

Question 1

The last meeting of the Scottish Cabinet that received a submission on water scarcity was 13 May 2025.

Questions 2

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 here 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”.

In this case carrying out your requests under the EIRs would impose a significant resource and cost burden on the Scottish Government due to the volume of materials that would be considered as a part of said requests. For this reason we consider that your requests (in relation to communications between the Scottish Government and SEPA regarding water scarcity) are manifestly unreasonable and so we are refusing these under regulation 10(4)(b).

I would also note that for the purposes of your requests we have conducted searches between the dates of 1 May 2025 and 1 September 2025 (the date of your request) for the information you are seeking.

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 interest in information relating to water scarcity in Scotland, thisis 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.

You may however wish to consider reducing the scope of your requests in order to make them more manageable. For example, this could be by reducing the date range required. 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 here.

Question 3

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 here 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”.

In this case carrying out your requests under the EIRs would impose a significant resource and cost burden on the Scottish Government due to the volume of materials that would be considered as a part of said requests. For this reason we consider that your requests (in relation to communications between the Scottish Government and SEPA regarding water levels) are manifestly unreasonable and so we are refusing these under regulation 10(4)(b).

I would also note that for the purposes of your requests we have conducted searches between the dates of 1 May 2025 and 1 September 2025 (the date of your request) for the information you are seeking.

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 interest in information relating to water levels in Scotland, 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.

You may however wish to consider reducing the scope of your requests in order to make them more manageable. For example, this could be by reducing the date range required. 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 here.

Question 4

On 15 May 2025 Ministers were specifically made aware of the risk of moderate water scarcity in the east of Scotland, however on 5 March 2025 Ministers received advice drawn from the SEPA Winter Water Situation Report which highlighted the potential for water scarcity for Scotland more generally over spring and summer. I also wish to highlight that the Scottish Government does not use the term “Severe” with regards to water scarcity, instead we use the classifications outlined by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and further information in relation to these can be found here.

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.