Nature Protection Scorecard

The Aarhus Convention is an environmental treaty signed by the UK in 2005 which guarantees the rights of the public to participate in democratic processes relating to environmental matters. The Convention guarantees public rights to access information relating to the environment. 

Requests to public bodies for environmental information are treated under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations, or the EIRs. Information should be made available within 20 working days of a request. 

Over the past 5 years the number of EIRs submitted has risen significantly. The proportion of EIRs answered on time has remained broadly similar over the same period, with a rise in late responses in the most recent data. In 2025-26, 10.8% of EIRs were answered late, a rise from 7.6% the previous year. 

Source: Scottish Information Commissioner. Data compiled by Scottish Environment LINK. For more information visit foi.scot/statistics