National Marine Plan interactive data: EIR release

Information requested

“Marine Scotland is coordinating the funding from European Maritime and Fisheries Fund for the SEaCoR (Scottish East Coast Review) project. What we are requesting is:

1. The information (no row data but), for project officers to produce figures in a consistent style. Preferably to the lowest scale possible and with the most up-to-date data incorporated.

2. Descriptions on the topics, subjects, species in order to be able and include them in our topics.

In some cases, the SMA 2020 (Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020) combined the Firth of Tay and East Grampian, or the Firth of Tay and Firth of Forth, and often Berwickshire data are not available. Optimally, the information we request from you would be separated according to the (below) defined regions, but if this is not possible we would really appreciate anything you have.

The defined regions in our sustainable coast report are:

1. Moray Firth
2. East Grampian
3. Firth of Tay
4. Firth of Forth and Berwickshire.

We have attached an information request document where we have identified what information we would like from the Marine Scotland NMPI system. Those that are ticked already have drafts prepared and are a priority in terms of data provision. If you think we have missed any that are relevant to any topic that have not been listed, please send these along too as me may have missed them during familiarization. Any topics with no request or NA have not yet been researched.

We therefore suggest that any information currently listed on the online NMPI interactive map is sent over (prioritising the topics that are already in draft format), then any updates in terms of the most updated information, and separation into the above marine regions, can be sent over afterwards if available.”

Response

We would like to apologise for our delayed response, which was in part due to it not getting immediately recognised as an environmental information request due to a combination of factors related to staff absence and illness during the summer holiday period.

An exception under regulation 11(1) of the EIRs (personal information) applies tothe information described in the paragraph above because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and 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.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because there are a few limited rows of data you have requested for which we do not hold information for and 3 rows for which you have provided the incorrect NMPI number and could therefore not be located. These rows of data have been marked on the Annex B spreadsheet. The rows of data for which we do not hold information are as follows:

• Anything relating to sea turtles
• Row 13 “All data for marine habitats on NMPI available for download, but would like to request the most up-to-date version if available.”

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about these rows of data, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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.