Publication - FOI/EIR release

Cambo oil field: EIR release

Published: 22 September 2022
Directorate: Energy and Climate Change Directorate
Topic: Environment and climate change, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202200269317
Date received: 5 January 2022
Date responded: 15 March 2022

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

1. All meetings held by the Scottish Government regarding the development of the Cambo field between 2016 and 2022.

2. All correspondence conducted by the Scottish Government regarding the development of the Cambo field between 2016 and 2022.

3. All advice given to the Scottish Government regarding the development of the Cambo field between 2016 and 2022.

Response

I attach a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you have asked for.

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party 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 exception 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 exception.

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.