Climate Change Committee Scotland Report investigation: FOI release

Information requested

On 18th April 2024, Màiri McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, gave a statement to the Scottish Parliament on the Climate Change Committee Scotland Report.

Before delivering the statement, she said this:

“Please allow me to begin by setting out my regret and my apology to you, Presiding Officer, and to the Parliament for the media speculation that has surrounded the content of my statement. I regret it because I take very seriously the integrity of the Parliament and the Presiding Officer’s role within that. It has also made it more difficult for me to communicate something that requires careful, nuanced and detailed communication. I have asked the permanent secretary to conduct an internal investigation into the circumstances as a matter of urgency.”

Please provide all internal correspondence and documentation relating to the aforementioned investigation by the Permanent Secretary, including its final conclusions and any actions that resulted from those conclusions.

Response

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. The information requested contains personal information of a 3rd party, therefore some of the information has been redacted to protect personal information. Please find attached the correspondence relating to the request for an investigation.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA applies to the documentation you have requested. We consider that the information requested is exempt under 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) as we have taken account of the fact that disclosure of information under the FOISA is to “the world at large”, not just to an individual applicant. We are therefore required to consider the effect of releasing the information into the public domain.

We recognise that there is an inherent public interest in openness and transparency regarding Government business. Your request for documentation relates directly to an investigation that was carried out in relation to a data breach. We have to balance your request against compromising how we conduct investigations as release of this information could compromise our ability to carry out future investigations. To disclose this information could also weaken our ability to protect our information.

We consider that the public interest in ensuring that the security of our systems and processes and information is not compromised, thereby maintaining ability to conduct affairs of public office, outweighs that of disclosing this information.

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 202500450809 - Information released - Annex

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