Future Farming Investment Scheme application information: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for:

I am looking to get information on the decision process for the Future Farming Investment scheme.

Specifically I would like to get a copy of any decision matrix or support documents for deciding on which applicants would be successful and which would not.

Any copies of guidance, decisions trees or similar documentation which are used by Agricultural department staff (RPID) when assessing applications would be brilliant.

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 circumstancesof 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.

Information held
We hold information on the eligibility criteria, scheme rules and published guidance used to assess FFIS applications against.These were publicly available on the Scottish Government website during the application period.For ease of reference, the published guidance can be viewed here: 

For ease of reference, the published guidance can be viewed here: Future Farming Investment Scheme

Applications were checked against the scheme’s eligibility rules, and eligible applications were then assessed on how well the proposed investment aligned with the aims of the scheme, including improving business efficiency, supporting environmental outcomes, reducing emissions, and enhancing sustainability.

Each eligible application received a score based on these criteria and applications were ranked in order of merit. Grant offers were then issued to the highest-scoring applications within the available budget.

This ensured that all eligible applications were assessed consistently and that funding was allocated in line with the published aims of the scheme.

Information not released

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested. This is because exceptions under regulations 10(4)(e), 10(5)(a) and 10(5)(d) of the EIRs apply. These exceptions and the reasons for their application are explained in the Annex below.

No unpublished decision trees, detailed scoring matrices, internal assessment models, verification methods, or operational decision-making tools are routinely produced for publication. Internal operational documents contain information about control systems, verification steps and audit processes which must remain confidential to protect scheme integrity.

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.