Forestry Grant scheme: EIR release

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.


Information requested

The total amount of grant claims paid via the Forestry Grant scheme since 2015 (financial year) up to the financial year ending 2022, broken down by the amount paid in each year.

A list of the top 10 recipients who have received the most funding via this scheme since 2015.

For each financial year, how many grant recipients had addresses registered in Scotland and how many recipients had addresses registered outside of Scotland.for each financial year, how many grant recipients had addresses registered in Scotland and how many recipients had addresses registered outside of Scotland.

I would prefer the information to be returned to me in a spreadsheet format if possible.

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.

 

Response

The total amount of grant claims paid via the Forestry Grant scheme since 2015 (financial year) up to the financial year ending 2022, broken down by the amount paid in each year.

This information is available on our website here: Forestry Grant Scheme Statistics. At time of writing, the latest publication is for February 2022. Table 7 - Claimed Options (authorised and paid or in process of payment) provides the data. Please note that we are still processing 2021/22 claims at time of writing, so please refer to this webpage periodically to see the latest updates throughout the year.

A list of the top 10 recipients who have received the most funding via this scheme since 2015.

This information is attached. However, 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 an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (Personal data relating to third party) applies to some of the information you have requested.

The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in Annex A to this letter.

For each financial year, how many grant recipients had addresses registered in Scotland and how many recipients had addresses registered outside of Scotland.for each financial year, how many grant recipients had addresses registered in Scotland and how many recipients had addresses registered outside of Scotland.

This information is attached. Please note that recipients may be eligible for more than one grant option in a single year, so the total number of claims paid as per question 1 may not match the total number of claimants given here.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR - 202200296546 - Annex
EIR - 202200296546 - Tables

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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