Wildlife crime investigations: EIR release

Information requested

1. Information as to all monies paid to Scottish SPCA from Scottish Government or Scottish Government agencies to assist wildlife crime investigations operations over the past 10 years and what these monies were paid out for.
2. Information on all sums paid by Scottish Government or Scottish Government agencies to RSPB Scotland to assist their wildlife/wildlife crime investigations operation over the past 10 years (to the present date).
3. Information on all bodies who have a reporting duty to the Police and Crown in Scotland and provide information on the extent and scope of their duties.

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

For points 1 above, the Scottish Government or its agencies has not provided any funding to the Scottish SPCA to assist wildlife crime investigations operations over the past 10 years.

For point 2 above, the Scottish Government has not provided any funding to RSPB Scotland to assist their wildlife crime investigations operation over the past 10 years.

For funding of wildlife operations, in considering this part of your request, we have only considered where funding relates specifically to wildlife operation. Funding from the Scottish Government is likely to have been paid out through its grant schemes, such as the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme or the Forest Grant Scheme, for wider environmental benefits.

NatureScot may have provided funding and I suggest that you contact them at the following contact details

Information Officer
NatureScot
Battleby
Redgorton
Perth
PH1 3EW
Email: foi@nature.scot

For point 3 above, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. 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 information on all bodies who have a reporting duty to the Police and Crown in Scotland and provide information on the extent and scope of their duties, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Police Scotland recently completed a request for similar information which can be found on their website.

You may also wish to contact the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) at the following contact details who should be able to provide a list of Specialist Reporting Agencies that have the authority to submit reports to COPFS for consideration.

Information Governance Unit
Policy Division
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
Email - FOI@copfs.gov.uk

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.