Correspondence regarding draft climate change plan: EIR release

Information requested

Please can you provide copies of correspondence within the Scottish Government about the delaying of the new draft climate change plan.

I'd like all correspondence from the start of July 2023 to the end of December 2023. Please provide any emails, texts, whatsapp messages and any other correspondence relating to the delay of the plan.

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.

Response to your request

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

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Parliament webpage, in particular, these can be found here: Written question and answer: S6W-22775 | Scottish Parliament Website. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some the information 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 in 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(s) 10(4)(e) – Internal communications; Regulation 10(4)(d) – Material in the course of completion, etc; and Regulation 10(5)(e) – Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. These exceptions have been applied because:

Regulation 10(4)(d) - Material in the course of completion, etc.
An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (Material in the course of completion, etc.) applies to some of the information you have requested because it relates to the development of the climate change plan. The release of the climate change plan will be in line with statutory requirements.

Regulation 10(4)(e) - Internal communications
An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication of the Scottish Cabinet between individual Scottish Ministers and or officials about the climate change plan.

Regulation 10(5)(e) - Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information
An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by a third party contractor and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests.

These exceptions are 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 exceptions. We recognise that there is some public interest in release due to an interest in open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest for upholding the application of exceptions, due to an interest in ensuring that topics can be discussed at a preliminary stages of consideration when private space to discuss is essential; and that formulation of policy is still an active and ongoing process.

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.

EIR 202400394829 - Information Released - Annex

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