COVID-19 allowing visitors to care home residence: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
Copies of any correspondence (including emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, notes/records of phone calls, texts or instant messages, minutes of meetings, briefings or otherwise) between the Scottish Government, health boards and private care home providers, on the subject of allowing visitors to care home residents. Please limit to the time period 1 May 2020 to present day.
Response
Attached is a copy of most of the information requested.
For documents and guidance from 16th August 2020 onwards documents and guidance issued to Scottish care homes is also available on the Scottish Government website. You will find it under the heading of Health, care and social work in the following link:
https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/#health,careandsocialwork
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide a small amount 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.
Annex
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
An exemption applies
Section 38(1)(b) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party
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 of a third party, i.e the names/contact details of individuals, 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.
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.
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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