Publication - FOI/EIR release

Successful applications to the Workplace Equality Fund - Rounds 1 & 2: FOI release

Published: 25 July 2019
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/19/01505
Date received: 24 June 2019
Date responded: 24 July 2019

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

Information requested

You asked for copies of the successful applications to the Workplace Equality Fund and you clarified on 26 June 2019 that your request concerns the successful applications in rounds 1 and 2 of the Workplace Equality Fund.

Response

Published information about the successful applications is available from the Impact Funding Partners website at https://www.impactfundingpartners.com/sites/default/files/files/2019-04/WEF%20Funded%20Organisations.pdf.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reasons why we don’t have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.

The Scottish Government is unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section s.38 (1) (b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

The Scottish Government is also unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section s.33 (1) (b) (commercial interests) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Reasons for not providing information - Annex
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 some of the information you have asked for because it has been destroyed in line with our records management procedures as there was no requirement for us to keep copies of the applications.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

An exemption applies, not subject to the public interest test

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested. Under this exemption, information is considered to be exempt if it constitutes personal data and the following conditions are satisfied:

The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act —
(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles, or
(b) would do so if the exemptions in section 24(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018 (manual unstructured data held by public authorities) were disregarded.

The second condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene Article 21 of the GDPR (general processing: right to object to processing).

The third condition is that —
(a) on a request under Article 15(1) of the GDPR (general processing: right of access by the data subject) for access to personal data, the information would be withheld in reliance on provision made by or under section 15, 16 or 26 of, or Schedule 2, 3 or 4 to, 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 applies, subject to the public interest test

An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interests) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of the applicants. Disclosing this information would be likely to give other applicants an advantage in future funding rounds of the Workplace Equality Fund, which would substantially prejudice the current successful applicants’ ability to submit applications and so could significantly harm their commercial business.

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.

About FOI
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