Publication - FOI/EIR release

Correspondence with Mayor of Greater Manchester and local authority: FOI release

Published: 3 November 2022
Directorate: Constitution Directorate
Part of: Constitution and democracy, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202200317066
Date received: 23 August 2022
Date responded: 16 September 2022

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

Copies of all emails, letters, text and any other communication between the Scottish Government (including the First Minister, her office and all government officials) and Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, his team and that local authority.

The time frame would be from the first such communication in 2022 to 12.59pm on Tuesday 23rd August 2022.

Please could you ensure all timestamps from the communication is included, and the information is sent in electronic form.

Response

I have carried out a search of our electronic records management system and directly contacted officials known to have been involved with the recent meeting between the First Minister and the Mayor of Greater Manchester. I attach a copy of most of the information you requested with the exception that an exemption(s) under section(s) s.38(1) of FOISA applies to some the information you have requested. This exemption applies to the disclosure of personal information, and therefore names and email addresses of officials below the level of senior civil service have been redacted. Where duplicate copies of emails have been provided to me, I attach one copy of each and have listed in time order for ease of reference.

I attach the information in three attachments. The first attachment contains correspondence in relation to the recent meeting between the First Minister and the Mayor of Greater Manchester. The second attachment contains a letter sent to the Mayor from Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise following a US-UK Trade meeting. This letter was physically posted on 15 June 2022 and we have been unable to locate a signed PDF copy. You also asked that we include any correspondence with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). The search returned some correspondence relating to the Sipher programme of which the Scottish Government and the GMCA are two of the partner bodies. This correspondence is contained in attachment 3.

About FOI

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