FOI/202600500183 · FOI/EIR · not held
Grants being distributed to the Ahl Al-Bait Society: EIR release
Information requested
Confirmation of the ‘checks you undertook, as well as what their findings were ahead of grants being distributed to the Ahl Al-Bait Society’.
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.
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested below.
The Scottish Government funded 3 projects run by Ahl Al Bait via the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) as detailed in the table below. The CCF was delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) until their contract ended in 2021 at which time delivery of the ongoing projects transferred back to the Scottish Government. Of the 3 projects funded, 2 were fully overseen by KSB and the Scottish Government do not hold those files or details of the specific checks undertaken. We do hold all documentation linked to the third project. We can also confirm that the conditions of grant and level and types of checks undertaken were the same for the earlier projects.
Project Number Project Name Start Date End Date Total Grant CCF-3706 A Leading Example for Energy Efficiency 01/04/2015 31/03/2016 £134,117.90 CCF-4390 A leading example of Energy Efficiency 01/04/2016 31/03/2017 £86,495.00 CCF-6548 Love Life Waste Less 01/04/2020 31/03/2022 £198,980.31
Stage 1 and 2 assessments were undertaken at application stage to ensure the organisation and project met the eligibility criteria as set out in Annex A. The application scored 84% (stage 1) and 78% (stage 2), leading to the project being approved.
Schedule 1 of the grant offer letter (Appendix 1) detailed the financial information required to drawdown grant, with the key points being:
1. The Grantee will submit grant claims monthly or quarterly in arrears, after the costs have been incurred unless otherwise approved by the Climate Challenge Fund Administrator.
2. The Grantee will self-certify the salary costs being claimed and is responsible for salary reconciliation adjustments where the actual cost incurred was different from the grant amount received.
3. Where the sum incurred by the Grantee for any individual non-salary item is £500 or more, the Grantee will submit a copy of the supporting documentation (e.g. invoice or receipt) with the completed CCF grant claim form (Schedule-2)
Al Bait submitted 12 claims in total as per the summary in Annex B. Expenditure was claimed in arrears. They provided copies of the relevant job descriptions, contracts, their rent agreement and invoices for individual items over £500 (non-salary). Claims also provided a breakdown of individual costs. This level of detail ensured all costs were in line with the approved grant and were eligible. Progress reports submitted separately from the claims also ensured the project was meeting its agreed objectives.
Appendix 2 provides a copy of all approved claims. Personal data has been redacted as per EIR Regulation 11(2).
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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.