Correspondence regarding Deputy First Minister's appearance on Politics Scotland: FOI release

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


Information requested

From 1 January 2020 to present:
Copies of all correspondence (emails, texts, whatsapp messages, memos, briefings and/or otherwise) from and/or to Special Advisors regarding John Swinney’s appearance on Politics Scotland on Sunday 10 January 2021.

Response

I attach 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 some 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 below:

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. 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.

FOI - 202100136050 - Information Released - 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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