FOI/202500464827 · FOI · not held
National Entitlement Card (NEC) statistics: FOI release
Information requested
1. The number of active NEC cards as of 31 March for each of the following financial years:
2022–2023 2023–2024 2024–2025
Please provide a breakdown by category:
Young Persons (YPS) – under 22 years old Older and Disabled Persons (ODPS)
2. The total number of journeys made using NEC cards during each of the above years, broken down by category (YPS and ODPS).
3. The average number of journeys per cardholder per year for each category (YPS and ODPS).
4. The total amount of reimbursement paid to operators for each category (YPS and ODPS) in the above financial years.
Please provide this broken down by individual operator, including (but not limited to):
First Bus McGill’s Stagecoach Scottish Citylink ScotRail / ScotRail Trains Ltd Any other participating operators
5. The reimbursement rates applied for each category (YPS and ODPS) in each of the listed years.
6. Please provide all requested data (points 1–5) in two separate datasets:
a) For Scotland as a whole,
b) For NEC cards issued by Aberdeen City Council only, with usage data limited to journeys made using those cards — both within Aberdeen and outside Aberdeen. I would appreciate if the information could be provided in a format suitable for analysis, such as Excel or CSV.
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 17 - Information not held, and 33(1)(b) - Substantial prejudice to commercial interests of FOISA applies to that information.
The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.
In response to your questions:
1. Please find the information requested in the document Annex B attached. Please note this data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). The data refers to the number of people with a valid card but does not include products which either start in the future or have expired. NECPO work with stakeholders and partners to carry out regular data cleansing of the customer database which may impact cardholder numbers when records are updated.
2. Please find the information requested in the document Annex B attached. Please note this data refers to a smart journey recorded against a valid product that has been received and processed for payment by Transport Scotland. Journeys are based on the local authority in which the card was issued, therefore some journeys will have been undertaken out with the local authority area. This data is subject to change due to late data being received.
3. An exemption section 17 applies where we do not hold this information.
4. An exemption section 33(1)(b) applies to some of this data. We are unable to provide data for reimbursements of less than £25,000 due to commercial sensitivities and placing that operator at a competitive disadvantage. An exemption section 17 also applies for reimbursements made to operators for journeys made solely in the Aberdeen City Council area as we do not hold this information. We are unable to allocate a service to a specific region, as it may pass through more than one region on its journey. For all other information we can disclose, please find this in the document Annex A attached.
5. Please find this information in the document Annex A attached.
6. The information provided has been split as 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
Response While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 17 - Information not held, and 33(1)(b) - Substantial prejudice to commercial interests of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below. An exemption section 17 applies where we do not hold this information. An exemption section 33(1)(b) applies to some of this data. An exemption section 17 also applies for reimbursements made to operators for journeys made solely in the Aberdeen City Council area as we do not hold this information.