Payments, grants, subsidies, agricultural support, or financial assistance made to Islay Estates: EIR release

Information requested

Please provide details of any payments, grants, subsidies, agricultural support, or other financial assistance made between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2025 through the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID), or any successor body, to:

“Islay Estates”, and/or any legal entity trading as, commonly known as, associated with, or linked to Islay Estates.

For the avoidance of doubt, this includes any parent companies, subsidiaries, holding companies, partnerships, trusts, successor entities, or entities with shared directors or controlling interests connected to Islay Estates.

This request includes, but is not limited to:

• Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)
• Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) • Forestry Grant Scheme • Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) payments • Goose Management Scheme payments relating to Islay
• Any successor agricultural or land management schemes introduced during the period

For each payment or award, please provide:

1. The name of the scheme;
2. The total amount awarded and/or paid per financial year;
3. The dates of payment;
4. The purpose or description of the funded activity;
5. The registered business name, Business Reference Number (BRN), company number (if applicable), and any other identifier used in your records.

If any exemptions are applied, please identify the relevant statutory provision and provide any nonexempt information.

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.

A search of the Rural Payments and Services (RP&S) website, which the Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) uses to administer payments has identified one business which includes the name ‘Islay Estates’. This business has received payments during the period requested.

I can provide some of the information you requested:

1. Name of Scheme	2. Total awarded	3. Payment date
Scheme year 2018
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£93,485.43	28/06/2019
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£4.12	09/07/2020
Greening (GRN)	£55,915.88	28/06/2019
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£29,040.85	11/07/2019
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£5,650.80	21/08/2019
Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS)	£4,987.00	06/11/2018
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£119,223.84	24/03/2022
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£4,978.43	09/04/2019
Scheme year 2019
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£133,901.05	09/07/2020
Greening (GRN)	£66,933.11	09/07/2020
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£22,066.56	23/09/2020
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£1,020.80	09/06/2020
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£114,464.41	30/06/2020
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£7,888.39	16/04/2020
Scheme year 2020
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£149,731.58	22/04/2021
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£3,464.85	10/03/2022
Greening (GRN)	£73,062.07	22/04/2024
Greening (GRN)	£1,884.52	10/03/2022
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£37,086.83	14/04/2021
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£11,874.50	10/08/2021
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£1,013.83	21/09/2021
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£62,440.60	23/04/2021
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£11,755.60	06/04/2021
Scheme year 2021
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£189,131.43	23/12/2021
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£3,481.14	08/03/2022
Greening (GRN)	£93,058.67	23/12/2021
Greening (GRN)	£1,889.20	08/03/2022
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£37,086.83	01/03/2022
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£230,973.76	11/03/2022
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£14,980.55	13/04/2022
Scheme year 2022
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£216,031.41	28/09/2022
Greening (GRN)	£106,491.06	28/09/2022
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£42,600.92	21/03/2023
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£11,846.00	17/03/2023
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£383.40	04/08/2023
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£2,865.50	19/03/2024
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£258,117.30	26/01/2023
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£18,060.06	28/03/2023
Scheme year 2023
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£287,289.83	30/11/2023
Greening (GRN)	£141,893.75	30/11/2023
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£42,245.63	12/12/2023
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£15,072.10	30/07/2024
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£286,337.07	05/12/2023
Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF)	£1,250.00	27/03/2024
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£22,988.87	13/06/2024
Scheme year 2024
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£289,292.97	06/12/2024
Greening (GRN)	£143,220.98	06/12/2024
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£41,481.94	31/12/2024
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£292,507.68	04/12/2024
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	£28,680.36	28/03/2025
Scheme year 2025
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	£288,757.77	16/10/2025
Greening (GRN)	£142,969.03	16/10/2025
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	£81,410.72	23/12/2025
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	£291,354.18	08/12/2025
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme(SSBSS)	payments commence April 2025

The information above has been provided by Scheme year for years 2018 - 2025.

4. Purpose or description
Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)	Basic Payment Scheme
Greening (GRN)	Greening guidance (2025)
Agri-Environmental Climate Scheme (AECS)	Agri-Environment Climate Scheme
Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS)	Forestry Grant Scheme
Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS)	Less Favoured Area Support Scheme
Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF)	Preparing for Sustainable Farming
Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS)	Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (Mainland and Islands)
5. The registered business name, Business Reference Number (BRN), company number (if applicable), and any other identifier used in your records.
Islay Estates Company, BRN 114694, Registered company number 00236026	ISLAY ESTATES COMPANY overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

You also asked for details of Goose Management Scheme payments relating to Islay, this scheme is administered by NatureScot and 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. The Scottish Government does not have information relating to any such agreements because the information is administered by NatureScot. Should you wish to submit a request to them, this can be done at: Freedom of Information requests | NatureScot.

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 information about habitat data, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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.