Publication - FOI/EIR release

Grant/service level agreement for delivery of Fuel insecurity Fund: FOI release

Published: 18 January 2024
Directorate: Local Government and Housing Directorate
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300340058
Date received: 25 January 2023
Date responded: 21 February 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

The grant contract/service level agreement for the delivery of the Fuel Insecurity Fund by third sector delivery partners, namely Advice Direct Scotland (ADS), the Fuel Bank Foundation and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), along with the management information reports submitted to the Scottish Government in 2022 from the partners.

Response

A copy of most of the information you requested is attached.

Specifically this comprises copies of the grant offer letters to each of our Fuel Insecurity Fund delivery partners, along with evaluation reports received in 2022 from Advice Direct Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the website of the Fuel Bank Foundation at Fuel-Bank-Whitepaper-3.2.2022-fbf013-1.pdf (fuelbankfoundation.org). This is the Fuel Bank Foundation's Fuel Crisis Report for 2022. 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 listed, then please contact us again and we will send you a paper copy.

An exemption(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This does not apply to any of the substance of the contracts and reports we are providing you with. It only involves the redaction of names and other identifying information for individuals featured in the documents whether they be Scottish Government officials, representatives of third party organisations, or members of the public whose experiences have been featured as case studies. In one case an organisation's bank account details have also been redacted.

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.

In one instance a small section of text has been redacted because an exemption under section s.33(1) (b) (Commercial interests) of FOISA applies to that information, which is considered commercially sensitive.

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 because public money is being utilised. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining productive working relationships with energy suppliers when providing support to their customers.

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.