Director General for Strategy & External Affairs WhatsApp messages during Covid-19 pandemic: FOI release

Information requested

Joe Griffin's Covid WhatsApp messages.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. I should note that the copies of these messages held by the Scottish Government comprise text only and do not include other media such as images.

Some of the information you have requested has already been provided to you as part of the response to your previous FOI requests, ref. 202400425744 and 202400425743. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you are unable to obtain this information from either the previous correspondence or the published responses on the Scottish Government website, then please contact us again and we will send a further copy in a different format.

An exemption Section 29(1)(a) has been applied to some of the information you have requested. An exemption under section 29(1)(a) (formulation or development of government policy) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because it relates to communications between officials regarding the formulation of government policy on the Scottish Government’s response to the pandemic. 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 high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on the formulation of government policy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development. Furthermore, those discussions are under the independent investigation by the Scottish and UK Inquiries.

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(s) under section 38(1)(b)(personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are 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, i.e. the names of members of Scottish Government staff who are not Senior Civil Servants and/or personal information such as mobile numbers or personal email addresses, 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.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202400436352 - Information Released - Annex A, B and C

File type

PDF

File size

3.2 MB