Documentation relating to the handling of the freedom of information response ref. FoI/18/02582: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03224
Date received: 20 September 2018
Date responded: 27 November 2018

 

 

You asked for any correspondence (emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes or any other documents) between the lead official on FOI request 18/02582 and/or Scottish Government ministers and/or the SG FOI Unit and/or special advisers regarding the response to that FOI request.

 

 

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.  
 
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA apply to that information.  The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.
 

 

An exemption under section 38(1)(a) of FOISA (personal information) applies where your name appears within the information requested because this is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation and 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.  
 
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to the redacted information because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individulas, 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.