Meeting between the First Minister and the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom: FOI release

Information requested

All briefing documents prepared for the meeting between the First Minister and the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom on 2 December 2022, and all minutes/notes of the meeting. On 28 December 2022, I sought clarification that the information you were looking for was specifically that which refers to renewable energy, which you confirmed on 29 December.

Response

I attach copy of the information you requested. Some of the information has been redacted because an exemption under section 32(1)(a) (substantial prejudice to international relations) of FOISA applies to that information.

Section 32(1)(a) – International relations
An exemption under section 32(1)(a) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the United Kingdom and Germany. The effective conduct of international relations depends upon maintaining trust and confidence between the UK Government and other states. In this case, disclosing information about UK/German engagement on renewables would substantially prejudice relations between the UK and Germany because there is a need to maintain confidential dialogue in order to ensure that future engagement can take place in a spirit of trust and openness.

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 applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in ensuring that the UK Government is able to maintain good relations with other states, in order to protect and promote UK interests. There can be no public interest in jeopardising those relations by the Scottish Government disclosing this information.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal information
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party (i.e. names/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.

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FOI 202200332815 - Information released

File type

10 page PDF

File size

774.4 kB