Publication - FOI/EIR release

Energy Consents public portal decision materials: EIR release

Published: 9 March 2026
Directorate: Energy and Climate Change Directorate
Topic: Energy, Public sector
FOI reference: EIR/202600502867
Date received: 22 January 2026
Date responded: 19 February 2026

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

All documents, records, assessments, briefings, reports, emails, and meeting notes created, held or considered by the Scottish Government in relation to the decision to remove email as a method for members of the public to submit representations on energy consent applications, and to require use of the Energy Consents public portal for public submissions.

In particular, please provide:

1. Any Equality Impact Assessments, screening documents, or related analyses undertaken prior to the decision;

2. Any risk assessments, technical assessments, or evaluations of the reliability, resilience, or accessibility of the Energy Consents public portal;

3. Any records of user testing, pilot exercises, or consultation with members of the public, community groups, or stakeholders regarding the removal of email submissions or the introduction of the portal as the primary submission route for the public;

4. Any internal briefings, submissions, or decision papers provided to Ministers or senior officials in advance of the decision;

5. Any legal advice, legal risk assessments, or legal opinions sought or received (whether formal or informal) in relation to the lawfulness, procedural fairness, or equality implications of removing email submissions for the public, noting that this request seeks confirmation of the existence of such advice rather than disclosure of its contents where legal privilege is claimed;

6. Any correspondence with developers, statutory consultees, or external bodies relating to the decision to remove email submissions for the public or to the operation of the Energy Consents public portal.

For the avoidance of doubt, this request relates to documents created or considered prior to the removal of email submissions for members of the public and the implementation of the current portal arrangements.

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.

Please find enclosed a copy of most of the information you requested, entitled Annex A1 to D3. Owing to the file size of the attachments, these will be emailed directly to you.

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 the following exceptions apply:

Regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available)
Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held)
Regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (Internal communication)
Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Personal information)

An accessibility statement is published on the ECU portal detailing compliance status, technical standards, and guidance on accessibility features including text resizing, colour adjustment, screen reader compatibility, and navigation support. (https://www.energyconsents.scot/Default.aspx).

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs (information already available), we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

This 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, as the information is already publicly available.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, an exception under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held) applies to the information requested because we are not required to provide information that we do not have. In this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

For clarity, an Equality Impact Assessment was not required for this change, as it represents an administrative adjustment to the method of submitting representations rather than a substantive change to policy or access. The procedural change related solely to the method by which public representations are submitted and did not alter the substantive consideration, weighting, or treatment of representations from any party.

The ECU works with Scottish Government legal and data protection teams to ensure that information presented to users remains current and compliant with relevant statutory requirements, including GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. When updates are necessary, changes are implemented through the Scottish Government's web content management processes.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that public participation is as inclusive as possible. We do not prioritise one form of accessibility over another, as we recognise that people with different disabilities will have different requirements and their own preferred solutions.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. 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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in this information, but clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communication) applies to some of the information requested. 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.

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.