Spend on Consultants in relation to flood prevention: EIR release

Information requested

1. The total amount spent by the Scottish Government (and any of its agencies or directorates) on external consultants, contractors, or advisory firms in relation to flood risk management, flood defence design, or hydraulic/flood modelling systems for each of the past five financial years.

2. Copies or summaries of internal correspondence, reports, or briefing papers discussing the use of external consultants due to a lack of in-house expertise or technical knowledge on flood design or modelling systems.

3. A list of the main consultancy firms contracted for this type of work, along with the contract values where available.

If any part of this request exceeds the cost limits under the Act, please advise me as to how I might refine it to stay within the limits.

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.

Questions 1 & 3

The Scottish Government has awarded one contract with a total value of £9,999.00 to an external contractor in relation to flood risk management, flood defence design and hydraulic/flood modelling systems within the time period noted in your request.

Please note that for the purposes of your request we have conducted searches for information for the following financial years:

• 2021/22 (6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022)
• 2022/23 (6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023)
• 2023/24 (6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024)
• 2024/25 (6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025)
• 2025/26 (6 April 2025 to 4 November 2025, the date we received your request)

I also wish to highlight that in regards to your request for a list of external firms contracted for the above noted flood related work (question 3), an exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information, in this instance the name of the external contractor awarded the contract noted above, would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided.

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 there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which tender for Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

Question 2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested as no internal discussions have taken place on the use of external consultants in relation to flood design and/or modelling systems due to a lack of “in-house” expertise or knowledge on the part of the Scottish Government. 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.

It may help if I explain that as part of the response to your request we have conducted a search of the Scottish Government’s main records filing system and have been unable to locate the information requested. I would also note that a search request was submitted to Scottish Government Officials which also resulted in no information being identified that would be within the scope of your request.

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.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

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.