PERF questions: FOI release (reference 4821)

21 July 2020

11 August 2020

1. How many requests for funding did the PERF receive and how many applications were successful.

2. What sectors were successful on application and how many companies were in each sector.

3. How many companies that were successful in application were a subsidiary of a larger organisation.

4. Was receipt of a Bounce back loan considered important to determine viability of a business.

5. How many companies in successful receipt of a PERF had not taken a Bounce back loan.

6. Where can i access a full list of all successful applicants to the Pivotal enterprise resilience fund.

1. Please find the attached link to the Scottish Governments webpage highlighting hardship and resilience funds statistics; https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics/

2. Please find the attached link to the Scottish Governments webpage highlighting hardship and resilience funds statistics; https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics/

3. Please note a full list of recipients will be published in the near future and we will advise you when this is publicly available. As it is our intention to make the information you have requested publicly available, it is exempt under FOISA, in accordance with section 27 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

4. Please note our trained assessors looked at a range of factors to determine viability of a business. This included whether businesses had already accessed other financial support such as, but not exclusively, CBILS, Bounce Back, Job Retention support and overdraft facilities.

5. Please note we do not hold verifiable data that would answer your question, therefore section 17(1)b of FOISA applies.

6. Please note a full list of successful recipients will be published in the near future and we will advise you when this is publicly available. As it is our intention to make the information you have requested publicly available, it is exempt under FOISA, in accordance with section 27 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Section 27(1) exempts information from disclosure if an authority plans to publish the information no later than 12 weeks after the date the request is made. While we are unable to provide you with a specific date for publication in this response, we can assure you that our website will be updated as soon as possible with information that relates to our geographical area; and within the 12 week period.

Section 27(1) information held with a view to publication

The exemption in section 27(1) allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks – provided it is reasonable to delay disclosing the information until the planned date of publication.

The public interest test

If the exemption is applied, authorities must go on to consider the public interest in relation to the information. This means assessing whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest is better served by disclosing or withholding the information. We recognise that there is public interest in authorities applying decision-making processes in a manner that is as open and transparent as possible. We also recognise that publishing information such as funding decisions can enhance accountability and allow for scrutiny. It is for this reason that Scottish Enterprise seeks to proactively publish information on grant funding.

As the fund processes for PERF and CTHEHF are due to conclude shortly, we consider that disclosing partial information before the full data set is available could present a misleading picture. We also wish to be fair to those companies whose applications are currently ongoing, either awaiting decisions on their applications or appeals.In balance therefore, we are of the view that it is in the public interest to apply section 27(1) to this request and uphold our decision to release complete funds data on our website once all funds processes have been completed.

We wish to assure you that the decision to publish complete funds data preceded the date on which we received your request for information.