Duties considered and steps taken when developing Rural Support Plan: EIR release

Information requested

I am writing to make a Freedom of Information Request. The request relates to the Rural Support Plan published on 24 March 2026: https://www.gov.scot/publications/rural-support-plan-rsp/.

I would be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1. Whether any steps were taken in relation to the duty under section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 and the Fairer Scotland Duty: guidance for public bodies;
2. If so, please confirm what steps were taken, what the outcomes were and the reasons for those outcomes. Please provide copies of any assessments or other documentation relating to those steps and outcomes, including any conclusions drawn regarding the application of the above duty to the Rural Support Plan;
3. Whether any steps were taken in relation to the duty under section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009;
4. If so, please confirm what steps were taken, what the outcomes were and the reasons for those outcomes. Please provide copies of any assessments or other documentation relating to those steps and outcomes, including any conclusions drawn regarding the application of the above duty to the Rural Support Plan.

Please note that the information requested is for any information in addition to that which has already been published under the ‘Matters Considered’ section of the Rural Support Plan.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the “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.

Questions 1 and 3
The Rural Support Plan: 2026-2031 is a compendium of existing policy and practice, consolidated into one place. Strategic decisions and duties were considered, as appropriate, during the development of each constituent part and are not reassessed at the point of inclusion within the Rural Support Plan itself.

Questions 2 and 4
Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs allows public authorities to refuse to make environmental information available if they don't hold the information when the request is received. The Scottish Government does not hold this information in relation to the Rural Support Plan: 2026-2031. 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 relation to duties, 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.