Correspondence regarding Shetland telecommunications cable damage: FOI release

Information requested

All Scottish Government correspondence (Scottish Government Reference: 202200327584, dated 16th November 2022) relating to the damage on the primary telecommunications cable between the Scottish mainland and Shetland (via Orkney) which caused a telecommunications outage on Thursday 20th October 2022.

Response

I enclose a copy of the information you requested under Annex A.

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, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, 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.

An exemption under section 34(1) of FOISA (information held for the purposes of a criminal investigation). This is due to an ongoing Maritime Coastguard Agency investigation. 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 upholding the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in knowing the details of the vessel however this is outweighed by the public interest in not interfering with an ongoing investigation.

An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interests and the economy). This is due to the information held having been provided by only one of multiple operators which were affected by the cable damage. The release of this information, due to the scope of the FOI, would publicly identify that operator. By identifying only one of the many operators affected by the cable damages, this could imply that the operator in question was singularly impacted. 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 upholding the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there may be information which is of interest to the public, however this is outweighed by the public interest in not causing detrimental damages to the commercial interests of the operator inquestion.

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FOI 202200331574 - Information Released - Annex A

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36 page PDF

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328.9 kB