Updated version of Bill Handbook: FOI release

Information requested

Does the Bill Handbook from 2011 remains the most recent version, and if not, please provide a copy of the most recent version of that document or the nearest equivalent.

Response

I enclose a copy of the Bill Handbook as at the date of your request. The purpose of the document is to provide guidance to Scottish Government policy officials who will be involved in the development and parliamentary passage of Government Bills, or who may have to engage with non-Government Bills.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance exemptions under section 38(1) (b) of FOISA (personal information) apply to small sections of the document because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of civil servants, 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 202200306018 - Information released

File type

140 page PDF

File size

1.7 MB