FOI – 2023-000331: EIR – 2023-000002 - Business Travel (HTML)

Date received – 06 September 2023 | Date responded – 02 October 2023

Request

I am seeking this information on behalf of Transform Scotland, the national alliance for sustainable transport. We represent a diverse range of member organisations, from community groups, environmental NGOs, walking and cycling charities to transport companies, local authorities and universities. Our information request is with regards to the delivery of sustainable transport within Scotland's Public Bodies, and particularly in the context of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Firstly, we are interested in Public Bodies' targets for business travel:

1. Do you have a target to cut emissions from air and/or business travel? If so, please share information about any target(s) you have (e.g. description of the target, when the target was adopted, timeline to meeting the target).

Secondly, we are interested in Public Bodies' corporate travel policies and plans:

2. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of emissions from business travel.
3. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of the use of air travel for business travel purposes.

Finally, we are specifically interested in Public Bodies' use of rail and air for domestic travel:

4. Please provide details of the number of flights your sta" have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.
5. Please provide details of the number of rail journeys your sta" have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

Response

I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 06 September 2023 requesting the following information:

I am seeking this information on behalf of Transform Scotland, the national alliance for sustainable transport. We represent a diverse range of member organisations, from community groups, environmental NGOs, walking and cycling charities to transport companies, local authorities and universities. Our information request is with regards to the delivery of sustainable transport within Scotland's Public Bodies, and particularly in the context of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Firstly, we are interested in Public Bodies' targets for business travel:

1. Do you have a target to cut emissions from air and/or business travel? If so, please share information about any target(s) you have (e.g. description of the target, when the target was adopted, timeline to meeting the target).

Secondly, we are interested in Public Bodies' corporate travel policies and plans:

2. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of emissions from business travel. 3. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of the use of air travel for business travel purposes.

Finally, we are specifically interested in Public Bodies' use of rail and air for domestic travel:

4. Please provide details of the number of flights your sta" have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England. 5. Please provide details of the number of rail journeys your sta" have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

NHS National Services (NSS) has applied the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) Section 39(2) exemption for “The Environment” to your request as relates to environmental information.

As your request has been exempted out of FOISA NSS have progressed your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIR) and have assigned the reference number EIR-2023-000002 to reflect this.

I can advise you that we have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

1. Do you have a target to cut emissions from air and/or business travel? If so, please share information about any target(s) you have (e.g. description of the target, when the target was adopted, timeline to meeting the target).

In line with Scottish Government Circular DL(2021)38, NSS has set targets to reduce carbon emissions resulting from travel.  As per the circular, these changes include:

• Actions to reduce the need for travel.
• Actions to increase active travel.
• Actions to increase the use of public or community transport to access services and sites.
• Actions to reduce car use in support of the Scottish Government’s aim to reduce the number of kilometres driven in Scotland by 20% by 2030 compared to a 2019 baseline; and
• Actions to support the use of vehicles powered by renewable energy in preference to vehicles powered by fossil fuels.

The Chief Executive and Directors within NSS each have an objective to deliver climate sustainability.  This will be achieved by sustaining a National Sustainability Assessment Tool (NSAT) gold rating by March 2024 and continuing to reduce NSS environmental impact in line with DL (2021) 38.

We will embed climate sustainability in everything that we do to ensure NHSScotland becomes a net zero greenhouse gas emissions health service by 2040 or earlier. NSS will:

1. Meet National Sustainability Assessment Tool gold requirements (80% score).
2. Develop and implement the NSS Climate Sustainability plan with progress towards:

• 15% reduction in domestic waste.
• 5% max domestic waste to landfill.
• 70% domestic waste recycled or composted.
• 33% reduction in food waste.
• 0% petrol or diesel cars.
• 0% petrol or diesel light commercial vehicles.

3. Continue to work towards the 145 requirements in the NHSScotland Climate Emergency & Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026.

National Services Scotland Environmental and Sustainability Strategy 2022 - 2040 (nhs.scot) is also available on the NSS website.

2. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of emissions from business travel.

Under Regulation 10(4)(d) “Material in the Course of Completion” of the EIR, the requested information is being withheld. NSS corporate policy is still in ‘draft’ format and needs staff consultation and governance route approvals.

3. Please provide copies of any corporate policy your organisation has on the reduction of the use of air travel for business travel purposes.

Under Regulation 10(4)(d) “Material in the Course of Completion” of the EIR, the requested information is being withheld. NSS corporate policy is still in ‘draft’ format and needs staff consultation and governance route approvals.

4. Please provide details of the number of flights your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

There was a total of 36 flights from Edinburgh & Glasgow Airports to London Airports for business purposes during the period April 2022 until March 2023.

5. Please provide details of the number of rail journeys your staff have taken from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes in the past 12 months (or your most recent 12 month reporting period) for travel to destinations within south-east England.

There was a total of 26 rail journeys from Edinburgh & Glasgow railway stations to London railway stations for business purposes during the period April 2022 until March 2023.

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Contact

Address

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.