Correspondence regarding Mr Mackay and subsequent resignation: FOI review

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


Information requested

1) Any record of the meeting in which Derek Mackay ‘resigned verbally’ from Government on 5/6th February 2020 (according to Scottish Government quote here: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18225904.shock-fms-office-admits-no-mackayresignationletter/).

This might take the form of emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, notes/records of phone calls, texts or instant messages, minutes, briefings or other.

2) Any internal documents or correspondence arising from or on the subject of Derek Mackay’s resignation on 5/6th February 2020 (including emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, notes/records of phone calls, texts or instant messages, minutes of meetings, briefings or otherwise).

3) Copies of any letters/emails sent by members of the public or stakeholders to Nicola Sturgeon on the subject of Derek Mackay’s resignation or the reasons for his resignation. Please limit to the time period 5 February 2020 to present.

Response

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed for part 1 and that a different decision should be substituted for parts 2 and 3 of your request.

With regards to the first part of your request, having reviewed the information held I am satisfied that no further information beyond that stated in the original response is held by the Scottish Government.

With regards to the second part of your original request as indicated in the original response your request covers everyone working within Scottish Government, this is over 6000 officials. I have as part of this review undertaken searches for information held by those areas of Scottish Government which would be most likely to hold the information requested, as communication in relation to a Ministerial resignation would fall mainly within their responsibility. 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 all the information you have requested in full because exemptions under section 38(1)(b) (Personal data relating to third party). In addition some of the information you have requested has already been published and is available at the following link - https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000015900/.

With regards to the third part of your original request, having reviewed the information held I have concluded that the information should be released. 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 all the information you have requested in full because exemptions under section 38(1)(b) (Personal data relating to third party).

Section 38(1)(b) can be applied when disclosure of the information requested would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the GDPR. 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/202000020475 - Annex

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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