The Former Permanent Secretary's pre-retirement leave: FOI release

Information requested

Please provide details of the start and end dates of the former Permanent Secretary's (Leslie Evans) pre-retirement leave and documentation showing when and by whom it was authorised.

Response

Some of the information that you have requested regarding Leslie Evans’ period of leave is already in the public domain on the Scottish Parliament website: 20220307_officepermsectoconvener.pdf (parliament.scot) Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some the information that you have requested. I am unable to send you unredacted copies of the documentation regarding when and by whom Leslie Evans’ period of leave was authorised. This is formal notification that 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 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.

However I am providing redacted copies of a formal submission to the First Minister from Nicola Richards, Director People dated 9 November 2021 and a covering email exchange dated 9 and 17 November 2021 between Nicola Richards and the First Minister’s Senior Private Secretary.

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 202200287678 - Information released

File type

3 page PDF

File size

889.5 kB