EIR/202500492156 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Future Farming Investment Scheme: EIR release
Information requested
You asked for:
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, I would be grateful if you could comply with the following request:
Please provide the number of applications to the Future Farming Investment Scheme that were rejected, broken down by (a) area office, (b) the total value applied for that was rejected, linked to each office, and (c) the farm/croft size (30 hectares or less, between 30.01-150, greater than 150).
For example, the stakeholder information pack shows 4 grant offers were made to businesses falling under the Stornoway Office. I would like to know how many other businesses were unsuccessful here, the total value (the amount of support applicants applied for) of the unsuccessful applications connected to the Stornoway Office, and the farm/croft size of the unsuccessful applicants.
How many of the successful applicants to the Future Farming Investment Scheme had a farm/croft size of (a) 30 hectares or less, (b) between 30.01-150 hectares, and (c) greater than 150 hectares,broken down by area office.
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.
Response to your request
Rejected Applications by Area Office
Area Office Total Number of Applications Failing One or More Eligibility/Scheme Requirement Checks Grant Value Number Small (<30ha) Number Medium (>30ha/<150ha) Number Large (>150ha) Ayr 354 £3,942,374.84 51 157 146 Benbecula 137 £674,380.32 96 37 4 Dumfries 245 £3,170,382.74 26 94 125 Elgin 82 £938,181.10 15 29 38 Galashiels 353 £4,133,725.29 41 85 227 Golspie 104 £474,169.06 55 33 16 Hamilton 121 £1,580,528.01 26 44 51 Inverness 261 £2,069,611.69 103 72 86 Inverurie 458 £5,499,236.99 101 184 173 Kirkwall 127 £1,528,982.34 26 67 34 Lerwick 144 £764,586.06 48 55 41 Oban 208 £2,215,510.72 41 70 97 Perth 467 £5,166,415.33 61 150 256 Portree 142 £602,599.83 98 29 15 Stornoway 168 £425,996.38 132 34 2 Thurso 166 £1,390,710.72 59 72 35 Total 3,537 £34,577,391.42 979 1,212 1,346
Grant Offers by Area Office
Area Office Number Successful Small (<30ha) Number Successful Medium (>30ha/<150ha) Number Successful Large (>150ha) Ayr 16 119 133 Benbecula 9 3 2 Dumfries 5 67 96 Elgin 4 30 26 Galashiels 9 37 123 Golspie 1 5 6 Hamilton 10 38 48 Inverness 9 20 35 Inverurie 30 150 138 Kirkwall 9 24 29 Lerwick 12 27 20 Oban 9 21 29 Perth 11 96 145 Portree 3 0 3 Stornoway 1 1 2 Thurso 5 22 34 Total 143 660 869
About FOI
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Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
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.
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