Area Based Schemes Guidance: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
Information requested
Copy of your latest Area Based Schemes Guidance please. The only one available on your website is the Area Based Schemes Guidance 2022-2023.
In the 2022 document you also say that "the ABS team will commission at least one independent QA inspection of every Area Based Scheme in Scotland (all 32 councils)." - can you share the latest QA inspection?
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.
I enclose a copy of the ABS Programme Guidance provided to councils for 2025-26 and the ABS Delivery Guidance for 2025-26 (some information has been redacted).
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 quality assurance of ABS projects and schemes was not possible as planned in 2022-23. This was due to changes in the wider contracts commissioned by the Scottish Government to assess our retrofit delivery schemes.
Please note that some information has been redacted in the ABS Delivery Guidance for 2025-26. 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 an exception Regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.
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.
We recognise that some property owners participating in ABS projects would benefit from knowing the maximum average value of grant-in-kind per property that can be claimed by councils. However, this is outweighed by the wider public interest in maintaining commercial confidentiality about the potential value of work delivered through public contracts. Delivery costs are not uniform and there is a risk that releasing this information could lead to increased billing for works to reflect the maximum value of grants allowed.
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