Breaches relating to slurry spreading and subsequent action taken: EIR release

Information requested

The following information covering the last three calendar years (2023, 2024 and 2025 to date) for a news article for The Scottish Farmer on compliance with NVZ slurry spreading rules:

• The number of breaches identified relating to slurry spreading during closed periods or other NVZ timing restrictions
• The number of businesses involved in those breaches.
• The types of enforcement action taken (e.g. warning letters, enforcement notices, monetary penalties, prosecutions).
• The number and total value of any fines or monetary penalties issued.
• A geographic breakdown of breaches, where possible (for example by river catchment, NVZ area or local authority area).

If available, it would also be helpful to know whether SEPA considers compliance levels to be improving, stable or worsening over this period, and whether any particular regional trends have emerged.

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.

No breaches relating to slurry spreading during closed periods or other NVZ timing restrictions have been identified in the last three calendar years (2023, 2024 and 2025 to date).

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have information on whether SEPA considers compliance levels to be improving, stable or worsening over this period, and whether any particular regional trends have emerged. Therefore we are refusing this part of your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs because there have been no discussions with SEPA where they have expressed a view on NVZ compliance rates.

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.