Official meeting with Alex Hynes on 17 November and 15 December 2020: FOI release

Information requested

Please can you provide details of the following meetings attended by Transport Minister Michael Mathieson and Alex Hynes on 17th November 2020 and 15 Dec 2020.

Details being sought include

• Pre meeting briefing(s)
• Agenda(s)
• Minutes or notes from meetings
• Post meeting action points

Response

Annex A – Documents held in relation to the meeting between Michael Matheson and Alex Hynes on 17 November 2020 – Winchburgh Station Meeting.

17 November 2020
Information requested	Details	FOISA Exemption
Pre meeting briefing	Do not hold	Section 17 – Information not held
Agenda	Do not hold	Section 17 – Information not held
Minutes or notes from meetings	Yes, included in Annex A	Section 30(b)(i) - Substantial inhibition to free and frank provision of advice Section 38 (1) (b) – Third party data
Post meeting action points	Yes included in the Notes from the meeting.

Annex B – Document held in relation to the meeting between Michael Matheson and Alex Hynes on 15 December 2020 – Quarterly Review Meeting

15 December 2020
Information requested	Details	FOISA Exemption
Pre meeting briefing	Yes	Section 30(b)(i) - Substantial inhibition to free and frank provision of advice Section 38 (1) (b) – Third party data
Agenda	Yes – not as separate stand alone document but included within the pre meeting briefing under the “What” section i.e. Rail Performance, Efficiencies/right sizing the railway/ EMA 3, Weather Resilience, Project Prioritisation
Minutes or notes from meetings	No	Section 17 – Information not held
Post meeting action points	No	Section 17 – Information not held

From the above you will see that some information has been redacted in line with FOISA.

Section 17 – Information not held
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have a pre meeting briefing or agenda for the meeting that took place 17 November 2020 because there was no agenda or pre meeting briefing compiled before the meetings took place. There was also no minutes or post meeting action points for the meeting that took place on 15 December 2020.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested

Section 30(b)(ii) - Substantial inhibition to free and frank exchange of views
An exemption section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (substantial inhibition to free and frank exchange of views applies to some of the information requested. The reasons why this exemption has been applied is outlined in Appendix A.

Section 38 (1) (b) – Third party data
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 and contact details of individuals and companies, 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.

For ease, the information that has been redacted in line with section 30 (b)(ii) has been clearly marked as follows: -

Section 30(b)(ii)

The remaining information that has been redacted is that which falls into the exemption of section 38 (1) (b) – third party data.

Appendix A
An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views. This exemption recognises the need for officials and a member of a third party to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers before the Scottish Government and member of a third party reaches a settled public view.

Disclosing the content of free and frank exchange of views regarding the Winchburgh railway station and would likely substantially inhibit the exchange of such views in future, particularly because these discussions relate to railway station that is still in development.

Disclosing the content of free and frank exchange of views regarding pre meeting briefing as part of Quarterly review meetings would inhibit the exchange of views in future between officials and Ministers in relation to areas of future policy making.

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 there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can exchange full and frank views, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s and third party’s decision making process. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

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FOI202100232184 - Annex A & B

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7 page PDF

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325.9 kB