Future Farm Investment Scheme Application information: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for:

Please could we have the following figures, relating to the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS):

• The number of applications to the scheme by each associated area office
• The number of applications deemed ineligible - and the associated area office from which those applications were received

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.

Response to your request

The information you requested is set out in the table below:

Area Office	Total Number Applications Received	Total Number of Applications Failing One or More Eligibility/Scheme Requirement Checks
Ayr	940	354
Benbecula	187	137
Dumfries	612	245
Elgin	222	82
Galashiels	777	353
Golspie	147	104
Hamilton	337	121
Inverness	486	261
Inverurie	1,138	458
Kirkwall	330	127
Lerwick	238	144
Oban	410	208
Perth	1,079	467
Portree	180	142
Stornoway	179	168
Thurso	320	166
Total	7,582	3,537

Applications recorded as failing one or more eligibility or scheme requirement checks did so for a range of reasons, including incomplete or unclear information, inconsistencies with data already held by RPID, or not meeting the published scheme definitions. These checks were necessary to ensure that all applications were assessed consistently and that decisions were based on accurate information.

No further breakdown of ineligibility reasons is held in a reportable format.

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.