Ash Regan communication on Gender Recognition Reform Bill: FOI release

Information requested

1. All communications between Ms Ash Regan and the FM, the DFM, the staff of the FM such as the chief of staff, as well as the cabinet secretary for social justice regarding the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
2. All minutes of meetings between Ms Ash Regan and the FM, the DFM, the staff of the FM such as the chief of staff, as well as the cabinet secretary for social justice regarding the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
3. All written guidance provided to civil servants, SPADs and members of the Scottish Government regarding the giving of evidence to investigations of the Ministerial Code.

Response

1. Please see documents 1, attached, that provides an excerpt of an email to the First Minister and a screenshot of a text message from the First Minister’s Chief of Staff to Ms Regan. Document 2 is the letter of response from the First Minister. No communication was received by the Deputy First Minister.
2. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because no meetings took place to discuss the subject in relation to Scottish Government business. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
3. No written guidance is provided on “the giving of evidence to investigations of the Ministerial Code” because the Ministerial Code is intended to speak for itself. A copy of the ministerial code can be found here: Scottish Ministerial Code: 2018 edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested, because it is personal data of a third party, in that it consists of personal information that may identify an individual and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Document 1 - 202200327791

File type

2 page PDF

File size

259.5 kB

Document 2 - 202200327791

File type

1 page PDF

File size

339.3 kB