FOI/202600523721 Review of 202600512570 · FOI · not held
Materials relating to Dumbarton Health Centre and the primary care programme: FOI Review
Information requested
Original request 202600512570
1. A note of the decision makers i.e. who determined the successful projects;
2. A copy of any guidance issued to decision makers;
3. If additional to such guidance, a copy of any scoring matrix issued;
4. A copy of the information issued to decision makers on the relative merits / requirements for each project;
5. A copy of any recommendations made to decision makers by officers or third parties;
6. Confirmation of whether Health Board recommendations were part of any part of the assessment;
7. A copy of any completed scoring matrices or scoresheets indicating the relative scoring of all projects considered, including the Dumbarton proposal;
8. If some other selection methodology was used other than a scoring matrix, a copy of the guidance/ rules of such methodology and all working papers or documentation which gave rise to the selection of the projects listed in Annex B;
9. If no written methodology or documentation exists to explain the selection of these projects over other projects, including the Dumbarton proposal, then it would be helpful to have a clear explanation of how the decision was arrived at and in particular, any factor or factors which saw the projects listed in Annex B prioritised over other projects and in particular the Dumbarton proposal.
Response
I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for a review of the response that you received to a Freedom of Information request (ref 202600512570) Scottish Government Budget 2026-27 - Dumbarton Health and Care Centre.
Having considered the details of your request and investigated the information that we hold, I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications. I have noted that in our response exemptions were considered and applied however they were not formally cited. As we are required under the legislation to confirm any/all exemptions that are applied to information that is not being released, please accept my apologies for this oversight.
As with the original FOI response, I will provide responses to each of your requests individually.
1. A note of the decision makers i.e. who determined the successful projects
The original response that you received is factually correct.
In your review request you clarified that “the natural meaning of the question would be taken to be who were involved in the decisions and I would ask that it is answered in that manner.”
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because we do not hold a list of everyone that was involved in the decision making process.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
2. A copy of any guidance issued to decision makers
The original response mentioned an analytical tool and signposted you to a contact within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for access and local analysis. Our response should have made clear that an exemption was applied under section 25(1) of FOISA, as the documents were judged to be reasonably accessible to you.
Through my review I have located a copy of the analytical tool (Strategic Needs Assessment tool for Primary Care Infrastructure), and associated guidance note. These documents were used as the basis for the prioritisation process which led to the final decision on which projects were successful.
I believe these documents should have been released to you as part of our original response, as they were not reasonably accessible to you. I have therefore decided to overturn the section 25(1) exemption and have enclosed copies of both documents. I apologise for the original omission and response that you received. I have spoken to the team who handled your original request to ensure they understand our responsibilities for disclosure and to avoid this happening again.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information within the analytical tool. This has been applied where the names of individual doctors were listed under ‘Practice Name/Clinic Type’ columns. 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.
I would also reinforce the original response and signpost you to Andrew Baillie (andrew.baillie@nhs.scot), Director of Estates at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, who may be able to help with any further related questions that you have.
3. If additional to such guidance, a copy of any scoring matrix issued
As per your letter seeking a review, I trust you will find the analytical spreadsheet satisfactory to address this request.
4. A copy of the information issued to decision makers on the relative merits / requirements for each project
As per my response to question 2, the analytical tool was the primary source of information issued to decision makers, who assessed the relative merits / requirements of each project. Through my review I have found no other sources of written information that were provided or considered as part of this decision-making process.
5. A copy of any recommendations made to decision makers by officers or third parties
The original response that you received attempted to summarise the contents of the analytical tool, which was used to assess the merits of each project, and should have confirmed an exemption to have been applied under section 17(1) of FOISA. I apologise for this omission.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Through my review I have not found any evidence that recommendations were made to decision makers by officers or third parties. As explained above, the analytical tool provided an objective assessment of the relative merits / requirements of each project, and decision makers used this to prioritise projects accordingly.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
6. Confirmation of whether Health Board recommendations were part of any part of the assessment
The original response that you received should have confirmed an exemption to have been applied under section 17(1) of FOISA. I apologise for this omission.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Through my review I have not located any relevant information in order to answer your question, I have therefore concluded that there is no information held which we could release to satisfy your request.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
7. A copy of any completed scoring matrices or scoresheets indicating the relative scoring of all projects considered, including the Dumbarton proposal
8. If some other selection methodology was used other than a scoring matrix, a copy of the guidance/ rules of such methodology and all working papers or documentation which gave rise to the selection of the projects listed in Annex B
As per your letter seeking a review, I trust you will find the analytical spreadsheet satisfactory to address both of these requests.
9. If no written methodology or documentation exists to explain the selection of these projects over other projects, including the Dumbarton proposal, then it would be helpful to have a clear explanation of how the decision was arrived at and in particular, any factor or factors which saw the projects listed in Annex B prioritised over other projects and in particular the Dumbarton proposal
I trust my response to question 2, and the analytical tool itself, will address this request.
If helpful in your considerations, I would reiterate the offer made previously by Alan Morrison, Deputy Director Health Infrastructure and Sustainability (alan.morrison@gov.scot), who would be happy to meet with you to discuss your request in more detail, including when we might be able to take forward the project.
Response to your request
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
I have noted that in our response exemptions were considered and applied however they were not formally cited. As we are required under the legislation to confirm any/all exemptions that are applied to information that is not being released, please accept my apologies for this oversight. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Our response should have made clear that an exemption was applied under section 25(1) of FOISA, as the documents were judged to be reasonably accessible to you. I have therefore decided to overturn the section 25(1) exemption and have enclosed copies of both documents.