Former Minister for Public Health and Sport's WhatsApp messages during the Covid 19 pandemic: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202400427867

MSP Mairi Gougeon's What's App messages from her Ministerial position during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for

"I wish to make a Freedom of Information Request for MSP Mairi Gougeon's What's App messages from her ministerial position during the Covid 19 pandemic.

In your review request you indicated

I wish to make a request for a review on the grounds Mairi Gougeon is an elected representative, Therefore should be open & transparant."

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

Firstly, I agree the period of your request would be from 21 January 2020 when the World Health Organisation published its ‘Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Situation Report, up until 30 April 2022 when the then remaining Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in Scotland. I can confirm the Scottish Government holds several conversations/messages involving Mairi Gougeon during that period. Please find attached a copy of the information at Annex A.

An exemption under section 29(1)(d) of FOISA applies to the remainder of the information you have requested as it relates to the daily administrative processes and operation of a Ministerial Private Office. 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 due to the importance of preserving a ‘safe space’ for the private office to focus on managing the minister’s work and diary in an efficient and effective manner without external interference and distraction.

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, for example names and contact details for 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 202400432336 - Information released - Annex A

File type

1 page PDF

File size

59.6 kB