Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce (STRT) correspondence: FOI release

Information requested

i. Details of all meetings of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce (STRT) including dates, those in attendance, and the minutes and agenda of those meetings.

ii. Details of all correspondence between the Scottish Government and STRT appointees concerning its formation.

iii. Details of any interests, financial, personal or otherwise, declared by members of the STRT regarding their membership of the body.

Response

The dates, minutes and agendas of the Tourism Recovery Taskforce will all be published on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/scottish-tourism-recovery-taskforce/ 

The papers from the first two meetings are already available. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you are unable to access this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a copy.

The Scottish Government is currently preparing to publish the information from the third and fourth (final) meetings of the Taskforce on this webpage very shortly, so this is a formal notice under section 27(1) of the FOISA, that the information is intended for future publication. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information rather than release some of this information before the planned publication date. 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 the release of this information now but we believe the public interest is best met by our planned publication. There is greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. We see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the future publication date.

Regarding parts ii and iii of your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

We no longer hold the correspondence between the SG and STRT appointees concerning it foundation. I can confirm that members were invited by email to join the group in June prior to its formation. However, those emails are no longer held.

Members were not asked to declare an financial, personal or other interests upon joining the Taskforce.

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.