Meetings with representatives of Persimmon Homes: FOI release

Information requested

 

You asked for details of all meetings between representatives of Persimmon Homes and the Scottish Government between the 18th May 2016 until the 1st of January 2019, including:
1. The dates and venue of any meetings between the two parties
2. The proposed agendas for any meetings
3. The recorded minutes of any meetings.

 

Response

 

I enclose copies of the information you requested which is available.

The answer to your specific questions are:

1. The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, and officials, met with volume house builders, including Persimmon Homes, on 27 September 2016 at the Scottish Parliament. An agenda for the meeting is attached.

2. The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, and officials attended a Homes for Scotland Board meeting on 8 December 2016 in Edinburgh. A representative of Persimmon Homes attended this meeting in their capacity as a Homes for Scotland Board Member. An agenda for the meeting is attached.

3. The Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning met with the Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland on 23 March 2017 at the Scottish Parliament. A representative of Persimmon Homes attended this meeting in their capacity as a Homes for Scotland Board member. An agenda for the meeting is attached.
With regard to the meeting on 27 September 2016, we have conducted a search of our records for notes of the meeting, however we have been unable to locate a note of this meeting. To carry out a further detailed search for a note of this meeting we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. It may help if I explain that we file our information according to the subject matter, not by reference to the names of individuals organisations with whom we have corresponded.

Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the additional information requested relating to earlier meetings would exceed the upper cost limit.
The meetings on 8 December 2016 and 23 March 2017 were either hosted or requested by Homes for Scotland, who may hold notes of the meetings.

 

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

An exemption applies

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data. Where this applies (eg names/contact details of individuals) those details have been redacted because disclosing them 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.

The Scottish Government does not have the information.
The Scottish Government does not have all the information you have asked for because Homes for Scotland, having either hosted, or requested two of the meetings identified, may hold some of the information you are looking for.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have all the information you have requested.

 

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.

foi-19-00330 Agenda

File type

5 page PDF

File size

262.5 kB