Meeting between Lorna Slater and Dr Pete Cheema: EIR release

Information requested

All items of information held in relation to the briefing prepared for Green Skills minister Lorna Slater for her meeting with Dr Pete Cheema OBE and others on 12 October 2022 about the circular economy, and all notes and records of this meeting. The meeting is listed in the Scottish Government's ministerial engagements

https://www.gov.scot/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-october-2022/

This should include all material prepared for the Ms Slater in preparation for the meeting including papers, emails and media clippings, and all notes and records of the meeting, including any media recordings and transcripts.

Response

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. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I attach a copy of some of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under regulations 11(2) (personal Information), 10(4(e) (internal communications) and 10(5)(e) (commercial confidentiality) of the EIRs applies to that information.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and is section 34(1) of 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.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications. Internal communications between officials and Ministers which contain sensitive information should be able to take place to inform quality policy and decision making. 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because there is an interest in open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing internal communications between officials and Ministers to take place to inform quality policy and decision making and ensure the advice provided is robust and fully considered.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. The provider of the information has denied consent for it to be released to the public. This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of the case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release. However, this is outweighed by the need to protect the ability for confidential information to be discussed between a Minister and stakeholder and that person did not supply the information in circumstances such that it would be made available to the public.

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 202300339740 - Information released

File type

27 page PDF

File size

2.6 MB