FOI Request - Review of 101003521143 Flood Risk Management Risks and Costs
Request 101003538517
Review of 101003521143 Flood Risk Management Risks and Costs
Re your response to my FOI request as detailed below. Your response is totally unacceptable. The Government web page you have sent for me does not give any figures or matrix to calculate cost of damage to property or any other structure when costing out a cost:benefit ratio when calculating cost of a flood management scheme against the value of property etc that will be saved.The Government issues Local Authorities each year with what is often referred to as the "Blue or Red Book" that gives the information on how to calculate costs etc and the matrix around costing an application to the Scottish Office. It is that information I require.
Response 23-04-2024
Following your request for a review (our ref: 101003538517) of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request - Flood Risk Management Risks and Costs 101003521143, a review meeting was held on 15th April 2024. In attendance were the Information Governance Manager and Data Protection Officer, Consultancy Manager, Senior Engineer Flood Risk Management, and Information Co-ordinator, and Solicitor via email.
Your FOI Request from 5th of March 2024 was discussed.
We reviewed the Council’s response of 28th March, including the application of exemptions under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - information otherwise accessible.
Regarding your original request for “the most recent Government document provided to local authorities to calculate all risks and costs”, it was found that, in hindsight, the exemption under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held should have been applied, as the information you are requesting is not held by the Moray Council. We apologise for applying the incorrect exemption.
Nonetheless, in order to be helpful, we can advise that there are a number of sources for information on flood risk assessments that can be accessed:
• National flood risk assessments that are completed every 6 years can be found under the following link: https://www.sepa.org.uk/data-visualisation/nfra2018/, and,
• The current consultation regarding potentially vulnerable areas can be found here: https://consultation.sepa.org.uk/evidence-and-flooding/potentially-vulnerable-areas/
Furthermore, we should have confirmed that we are not aware of a ‘Blue or Red Book’ or any other coloured book used to assist with cost estimates. The Council works to the Treasury’s Green book, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-government/the-green-book-2020
There is a document known as the Multi Coloured manual, which is used to work out flooding damages. This is a commercial document produced by a third party which is seen as best practice to use. It can be found here: https://www.mcm-online.co.uk/manual/. These are not held by the Council; as such would also be exempt under Section 17 if requested.