Ofgem and National Energy System Operator (NESO) correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

Further to the delay in publishing a National Energy Strategy for Scotland, I am submitting this Freedom of Information request to ascertain the Scottish Government's current thinking and the evidence that underpins that current position.

In particular, I am interested to learn how the Government's position has been impacted by reports published from start 2025 to present by Ofgem and NESO on grids connection reform and the development of Regional Energy Spatial Plans.These documents include:

•  "Decision on Connection Reform Package (TMO4+)", published by Ofgem in April 2025;
•  the series of reports published by NESO during 2025 under the broad title on their website, entitled "Implementing Connection Reform", specifically CUSC, CMP434, CMP435 and "Connections Reform Detailed Results".

Given the effect of these development strategies would be to constrain the development pipeline in Scotland (zones T1 and D1 and zones D1 and D2) for onshore, offshore and BESS grid connections until the next allocation round beyond 2030, I specifically request:

• all correspondence sent by Scottish Ministers from start 2025 to present which refers to, discusses or otherwise mentions the relevant Ofgem and NESO documents referenced above: this shall include

a) all relevant internal correspondence between Scottish Ministers and Scottish government officials and civil servants from start 2025 to present and

b) all relevant correspondence between Scottish Ministers and other governments, regulators, public bodies and stakeholders from start 2025 to present.

• copies of internal assessments, analyses, briefing papers, reports or similar held by the Scottish Government which consider or evaluate the implication (impact?) of Ofgem's and NESO's strategies referenced above including but not limited to:
• implications for the development of a National Energy Strategy for Scotland,
• implications for onshore renewable energy developments in Scotland,
• implications for offshore renewable energy developments in Scotland's coastal waters,
• implications for electricity storage infrastructure, including BESS, and
• implications for electricity transmission (and distribution?) infrastructure and grid capacity.

 

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.

I have enclosed information which falls within the scope of your request, at Annex A. Please note that document 6 relates to a letter from NESO that was sent to Kerti Berge, Director of Energy and Climate Change at Scottish Government dated 19 December 2024. In January 2025, the Scottish Government responded to NESO, including the original text of the NESO letter and labelled as draft at the end. The inclusion of this text was a drafting error, but we have disclosed this version of the response in the interests of transparency.

Exemptions Applied

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 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (Internal communication)

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in allowing Scottish Government officials and ministers a private space to share free and frank views for the purpose of deliberation of any given policy.

Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Personal information)

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.

Regulation 10(5)(f) of the EIRs (Third party interests)

A small amount of information has been withheld under Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests). 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 releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of said information and the interests of those providing information to the Scottish Government in confidence.

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 202600512326 - Information Released - Annex A

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