Communication between Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Martin Compston: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request - 202300353506

All communication between Humza Yousaf and/or his officials as health or justice secretary and Martin Compston during 2021. This should include email, text, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Messenger or other electronic communications, as well as any handwritten notes or minutes of verbal conversations.

Response

Further to my letters of 16/06/2023 and 29/06/2023, I have now completed my review of our response to your request (202300353506) under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for:

Please provide the content of all communication between Humza Yousaf and/or his officials as health or justice secretary and Martin Compston during 2021. This should include email, text, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Messenger or other electronic communications, as well as any handwritten notes or minutes of verbal conversations.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

Having reviewed the information previously withheld, I can confirm we identified one email which would fall within the scope of your request. I have concluded that the entirety of this email should not have been withheld and that an exemption under section 38(1)(b) would only apply to the relevant information within the correspondence. This decision has been shared with the original case handler and information provided on the correct application of exemptions under FOISA to inform future FOI responses.

I therefore enclose 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 an exemption under section 38(1)(b) personal information relating to a third party of FOISA applies to that information.

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, ie names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. 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.

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 202300362271 - Information Released - Email

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