Future Farming Investment Scheme assessment of applications: EIR release

Information requested

• Any information about which software systems or other digital programmes were used to assess applications to the Future Farming Investment Scheme.
• Confirmation of whether any AI tools were used to assist in assessing applications to the Future Farming Investment Scheme.

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:

Q. Any information about which software systems or other digital programmes were used to assess applications to the Future Farming Investment Scheme.

A. An Excel based scoring tool was used to bring together verified business information drawn from existing RPID systems, which are also used to validate claims under other agricultural support schemes. The Excel based tool applied the agreed scoring framework to produce consistent scores and rankings for all eligible applications taken forward for funding consideration. While data verification and scoring were supported by digital tools, assessment decisions were human led and based on agricultural knowledge and professional judgement.

Q. Confirmation of whether any AI tools were used to assist in assessing applications to the Future Farming Investment Scheme.

A. Artificial Intelligence or automated decision-making tools were not used to assess or score Future Farming Investment Scheme applications.

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.