Publication - FOI/EIR release

Changes to greening rules by EU: EIR release

Published: 19 February 2018
Directorate: Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate
Topic: Farming and rural, Public sector

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

FOI reference: FOI/18/00222
Date received: 26 January 2018
Date responded: 16 February 2018

Information requested

Email correspondence between Fergus Ewing and civil servants regarding changes to greening rules by the EU, between dates 1/1/16-25/2/18.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested. Please note, text that does not relate to changes to greening rules by the EU has been redacted.

It is the Scottish Government's responsibility to respond to an information request within a 20 day period. As our deadline to respond to your request is 23 February 2018, information relating to the period after our response is due – 24 and 25 February – is not held by us at this time. Please also note that from January – May 2016, the responsibility for this area lay with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment and we have therefore also looked for material between Mr Lochhead and officials during this period.

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