Publication - FOI/EIR release

A96 dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Programme Board meeting notes: EIR release

Published: 7 December 2020
Part of: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202000092070
Date received: 28 September 2020
Date responded: 26 October 2020

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

You asked for:

"Under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 please could you supply me with the A96 dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Programme Board meeting minutes, papers and material presented from Sept 2018 to the current date.”

Response

As all of the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Please refer to Annexes A-C in response to your request for ‘the A96 dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Programme Board meeting minutes, papers and material presented from Sept 2018 to the current date.’

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception(s) under regulation(s) 11(2) of the EIRs applies to that information.

The exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party 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 exception 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 exception. This exception has been applied to Annexes A-C contained within this response.

A further exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between Transport Scotland officials regarding the risk assessment of the A96 Dualling programme and the development and assessment of the A96 East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on the risks surrounding the A96

Dualling programme and the development and assessment of the A96 Dualling East of Huntly to Aberdeen scheme will be disclosed in the future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that issue while it is still under discussion and development.

Additionally, an exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to Programme Board Meeting no. 14 minutes because it is material which is still in the course of completion. The minutes for this meeting will not be finalised until the next Board Meeting.

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