Information relating to wastewater monitoring for illicit drugs in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

Information relating to the current status of wastewater-based epidemiology or wastewater monitoring activity associated with illicit drugs in Scotland.

Response

In relation to part 1 of your request, the Scottish Government is not currently undertaking, supporting, funding, or considering any wastewater monitoring or wastewater-based epidemiology activity relating to illicit drugs or psychoactive substances in Scotland.

In relation to part 3 of your request, the Scottish Government has not allocated any funding or awarded any grants relating to wastewater drug monitoring or wastewater-based epidemiology in Scotland. Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection (WAND) was a fully Home Office-funded programme, to which the Scottish Government has not contributed funding. The Home Office decided in late 2025 to withdraw funding for the Scottish sites due to budget constraints. The Scottish Government was approached about contributing funding to reinstate the Scottish sites at this time but determined that taking over funding for these sites would not provide significant added value.

In relation to part 4 of your request, a number of organisations have been involved in wastewater drug monitoring or wastewater-based epidemiology in Scotland. As previously noted, the Wastewater Analysis for Narcotics Detection (WAND) programme was a Home Office-funded programme with sites in Scotland. Scottish Water, with the support of Public Health Scotland, commissioned research by the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) into the feasibility of wastewater monitoring for psychoactive substances in Scotland. Public Health Scotland also provided advice to the National Drug Deaths Incident Management Team on the potential of take such work forward.

In relation to part 6 of your request, the Scottish Government is not aware of any wastewater testing for illicit drugs currently operational within Scotland.

In relation to parts 2 and 5 of your request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you asked for.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the following websites: a) Written question and answer: S6W-26222 | Scottish Parliament Website; b) Review of psychoactive substances wastewater monitoring approaches and recommendations for the feasibility of applying different approaches in Scotland | CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters; and c) Written question and answer: S6W-39679 | Scottish Parliament Website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 exemptions under sections s. 30(b)(i) (free and frank provision of advice) and s. 38(1)(b) (personal data relating to third party) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why those exemptions apply are explained below.

An exemption under section s. 30(b)(i) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view. Disclosing the content of free and frank advice on wastewater monitoring for illicit drugs will substantially inhibit the provision of such advice in the future, particularly because these discussions relate to a sensitive issue such as drug harms.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government's response to drug harms. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

An exemption under section s. 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, 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 exemption 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 exemption.

Our aim is to provide information whenever possible. However, in this instance, some of the information you have requested is not held by the Scottish Government for the purposes of FOISA because we received it in confidence from the UK Government. This means that, under the terms of section 3(2)(a) (ii) of FOISA, we are unable to disclose it in response to your request. However, you may wish to submit a new request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) to the Home Office at foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk who should be able to help you further.

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.

FOI 202600518866 - Information released - Annex A

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