Meeting of Medical Royal College via the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.


Information requested

  • The agenda and notes from the meeting between Scottish Government ministers/officials and medical Royal College via the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in early June 2024.
  • The agenda and notes from the meeting between the MAPs Programme Board and the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care on 3 October 2024.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in the format you asked for. Exemptions under section 38(1)(b) have been applied to some of the information you have requested due to some of the documents containing personal information.

You asked for the agenda and notes from the meeting between Scottish Government Ministers/officials and the Medical Royal College via the Scottish Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in early June 2024. I have provided a copy of the agenda from this meeting. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reason we do not have this are due to the fact the documents, such as a minute of the meeting were not created by Scottish Government officials. However you may wish to contact the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland who may be able to help you.

You also asked for the agenda and notes from the meeting between the MAPs Programme Board and the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recover. An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to all of the information requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release all of this routinely published information before the planned publication date.

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 some public interest in release because of the interest from both within the NHS and also from the wider general public about the employment of MAPs, and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date. You will be able to access the papers once they are published, via the following link NHS Scotland Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board | Turas | Learn.

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 202400445036 - Information Released - Annex

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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