Land and Nature Apprenticeships correspondence: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request: 202400445710

1. “Notes of the Meeting between the Minister for Climate Action and the Minister for Further and Higher Education and Veterans on 11 December 2024.”

2. “All briefings given to Scottish Ministers on Land and Nature Apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

3. “All correspondence relating to Land and Nature Apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

4. “A list of meetings where officials met with external bodies to discuss Land and Nature apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

5. “All briefings related to these meetings.”

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

1. “Notes of the Meeting between the Minister for Climate Action and the Minister for Further and Higher Education and Veterans on 11 December 2024.”

2. “All briefings given to Scottish Ministers on Land and Nature Apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

3. “All correspondence relating to Land and Nature Apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

4. “A list of meetings where officials met with external bodies to discuss Land and Nature apprenticeships since the election of John Swinney as First Minister.”

5. “All briefings related to these meetings

You had requested a review of the response you had received on 21 January 2025. Information had been redacted under a number of exceptions but your request for a review related only to the application of the exception at regulation 10(5)(f). Therefore 10(5)(f) is the only exception which I have considered in this review.

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted. I have concluded that an exception under regulation 10(5)(f) should not apply to all the information previously withheld.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(f) can only be applied if all three of the following tests are satisfied:

(i) the person was not legally obliged (and could not be legally obliged) to supply the information

(ii) the person did not supply it in circumstances such that it could be made available except by making a request for it under the EIRs

(iii)the person has not consented to the information being disclosed.

One of the sources of the redacted information in the correspondence was the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which is obliged, under the Education (Scotland) Act, 1996, to supply information to Scottish Ministers relating to its functions. Therefore, the material redacted from correspondence received from the SQA failed test (i) above. This material has been unredacted in the attached bundle of correspondence.

A second source of the redacted information was NatureScot which is obliged, under the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991, to supply information to Scottish Ministers about its activities. Therefore, the material redacted from correspondence received from NatureScot also failed test (i) above. This material has been unredacted in the attached bundle of correspondence.

A third source of the redacted information was Skills Development Scotland (SDS). They are not under the same legal obligations as NatureScot and the SQA, but on review, I have concluded that disclosure would not substantially prejudice the interests of SDS, the third party who have provided the information, so the exception does not apply.

I am satisfied that some of the information previously withheld should have been released to you as it was already in the public domain. I apologise for this oversight. This material has been unredacted in the attached bundle of correspondence.

I have also added in a very short piece of correspondence and an email attachment which were inadvertently missed in the original papers issued in response to 202400445710. Once again I apologise for these omissions.

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.

EIR 202500450037 - Information Released - Attachment

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