Meetings between the First Minister and Chief Constable of Police Scotland: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
1. How many times has the First Minister met with the present Chief Constable of Police Scotland since his first day in office. Can I have the dates of all meetings.
2. How many times has the Permanent Secretary met with the present Chief Constable of Police Scotland since his first day in office. Can I have the dates of all meetings.
Response
In response to your first request, details of all Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government. This transparency data can be accessed via this weblink: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/
This is a formal notice under section 25 (1) as the Scottish Government has already proactively published the information you have requested. 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because there is public interest in the meetings and work carried out by Scottish Government Ministers. However, there is a greater public interest in the proper use of public resources. Since providing this information would create a duplication of work, we have determined that this would not be a responsible use of public resources and therefore not in the public interest.
In response to your second request, I enclose all of the information you have asked for in Annex A and B. To note, Annex B contains a list of Scottish Government Resilience Room (SGoRR) meetings on the subject of Covid-19, EU Exit and severe weather, in which the Chief Constable received an invite to, as well as the First Minister and/or the Permanent Secretary. However, due to diary pressures, deputies have been sent on the Chief Constable’s behalf at times, therefore this annex is provided with the caveat in which they were invited to these meetings, but may have been represented by a member of the senior team.
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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