Internal correspondence mentioning For Women Scotland work: FOI release

Information requested

Any internal correspondence among civil servants within the Children and Families Directorate, Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate, senior civil servants, ministers and special advisers which includes the name of the charity "ForWomen Scotland" or discusses the organisation's work, since the start of 2021.

Response

Attached is a copy of the information requested. 

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested which accompanies this response.

Section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies to a small amount 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.

Some information has been held under Section 36(1) of FOISA which pertains to emails between the Scottish Government and Legal Advisors. These are legal privileged and exempt as communications need to be maintained for ongoing legal proceedings.

Exemptions under sections 30(b) (i) and (ii) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. 30 (b) (i) & (ii) are to do with the free and frank exchange of advice or views, these apply because the release of this information would substantially inhibit the free and frank exchange of advice.

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 of the recent interest in relations with LGBTI+ Stakeholders and government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining an ongoing working relationship with external stakeholders and allowing the exchange of advice between as such continuing with our programme for government.

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.

FOI202100248103 - Information released

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34 page PDF

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