Midlothian Council Recycling Improvement Fund repayment query: EIR release

Information requested

I am writing to follow up on EIR 202600515472, specifically in relation to the Recycling Improvement Fund grant awarded to Midlothian Council under reference RIF-34/02122 for in-cab technology.

Annex B of the response to that request includes internal correspondence from October 2024 confirming that Scottish Government finance colleagues advised repayment of the grant should be requested, on the basis that the funds were not used for the specified purpose.

However, the correspondence does not confirm whether repayment was subsequently made.

Please provide:

• Confirmation of whether Midlothian Council repaid the RIF-34 grant funding in full, in part, or not at all.
• The date on which any repayment was made, and the amount repaid.
• If repayment was not made in full, the reason for any shortfall or waiver, and any correspondence or decisions relating to that outcome.
• Confirmation of what subsequently happened to the 31 in-cab technology devices - whether they were donated to charity as proposed, repurposed, or disposed of by another means.

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.

Request for confirmation of repayment of RIF-34 grant funding

As part of our response of 22 May 2026 to your previous EIR request of 24 April 2026 (202600515472), we provided information contained in Annex B of said response, specifically in relation to ‘in-cab technology’.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested as we do not hold information on whether Midlothian Council have repaid the RIF-34 grant funding (either part or in full), or information on the current status of the 31 in-cab technology devices procured by Midlothian Council and referred to in our previous response of 22 May. Therefore, with respect to your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

As part of the response to your request we have conducted further searches of the Scottish Government’s main records filing system and have been unable to locate the information requested. I would also note that a search request was submitted to Scottish Government Officials which also resulted in no further information being identified that would be within the scope of your request.

It may help if I explain that grants are not ‘repaid’ to the Scottish Government. Any reimbursement of grants would be returned directly to Zero Waste Scotland’s RIF budget resulting in Zero Waste Scotland claiming less from the Scottish Government. I would also note that the Scottish Government’s role was limited to managing the payments to Zero Waste Scotland for RIF and therefore not involved in the administration of the grants or any associated payment arrangements with councils.

In this instance you may wish to submit a request directly to Zero Waste Scotland and/or Midlothian Council as they may be able to provide the information you are seeking. I have provided contact information for each below for your convenience:

Information requests | Zero Waste Scotland

Make a Freedom of Information request | Midlothian Council

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test. Therefore, 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 the Recycling Improvement Fund, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document. Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

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.