Document “Draft Guidance on Funeral Costs”: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

The Scottish Government’s internal record of response to the questions which were posed in an email sent by the Alice Barker Trust on 11 February 2019 regarding our document, “Draft Guidance on Funeral Costs” and the questions in the Trust’s further email of 20 February 2019.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because the record you have asked for does not exist. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. I have however, attached the reply to the emails from the Alice Barker Trust (personal details have been redacted under s.38(1)(b) of FOISA).

ANNEX
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information
Section 17(1) of FOISA (information not held) requires the Scottish Government to notify you if it does not have the information you requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because adequate arrangements to monitor the mailbox to which you refer (funeralpoverty@gov.scot) had not been put in place and staff changes in the Funeral Poverty Policy team meant that we were unaware of any emails, until they were highlighted by your request on 1 June, under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
An exemption applies
Whilst we have not been able to provide the information you have requested, we have been able to attach the reply to the emails from the Alice Barker Trust that was issued by the Scottish Government.
An exemption(s) under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to this attached reply. This means that the personal data of a third party has been redacted from the letter.
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.

FOI-19-01379 Information Released

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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