Sustainable farming incentive documentation: EIR release

Information requested

All documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings and analysis, about sustainable farming incentive, from the last six months.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

Some of the information you have requested is available from: the World Trade Organisation (WTO) website, specifically the Secretariat Report (and Executive Summary) produced as part of the UK Trade Policy Review (link here: WTO | Trade policy review - United Kingdom 2025 ); the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) website, specifically the UK Chapter of the Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2025 (link here:United Kingdom: Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2025 | OECD ); and p68-69 of the Independent Review of Greenhouse Gas Removals by Dr Alan Whitehead CBE (link here: Independent Review of Greenhouse Gas Removals).

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 exceptions under regulations 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion etc), 10(4)(e) (internal communications), and 11(2) (personal data relating to a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are as follows.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion etc) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it relates to documents at various stages in the drafting process and which are due to be published in the near future. 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 some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this will be met by the planned publication of the final versions of these documents by the UK Government and the WTO, which we expect to happen within the next couple of months. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that working drafts of documents are not disclosed when they might misinform or mislead the public, or when disclosure might have a significant negative impact on the willingness of the UK Government and the WTO to share such documents with us in future.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between officials about the development of future schemes under the Agriculture Reform Programme, and about the presentation of information to the WTO. 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 some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions, and how such policies are presented internationally at organisations such as the WTO. This means that officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on this will be disclosed in the future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development, or when it may significantly undermine our international relations and obligations.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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.

EIR 202500495815 - Information released - Documents

File type

PDF

File size

21.2 MB