Documentation and correspondence on 20 minute neighbourhoods: EIR release

Information requested

2. Could you supply all documentation held by the Scottish Government, including reports, analysis, correspondence sent and received (including internal), briefings, minutes/notes from meetings, about 20-minute neighbourhoods, from the last three months?

4. Could you supply all correspondence and minutes/notes from meetings between the Scottish Government and Dr Husam Al Waer, as well as any reports written by him, from the last 12 months?

Response

Your request relates to multiple policy areas and I am responding to parts 2 and 4 of your request.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

We are releasing the relevant information we hold in response to your request contained within the attached PDF file. Some redactions have been made and, in some cases, we have not provided certain information directly. The basis for these decisions is set out below.

Out of Scope Information

Some documents provided contain information that falls outside the scope of your request. This includes content that:

• Is unrelated to the subject of your request
• Is part of wider document or communications where only a small section pertains to the subject you requested

This material has been redacted and marked as 'Out of Scope' under EIRs. Please note that under EIRs, we are not required to apply an exception to information that does not fall within the scope of your request.

Regulation 10(4)(e) - Internal Communications

Some redactions have been made under Regulation 10(4)(e), which covers internal communications.

This includes:

• Internal communications between officials and between officials and ministers, which reflects internal deliberation and/or is refining policy messaging.
• Ministerial briefings and communications that includes advice or recommendations from officials to ministers on policy matters, especially where these lines relate to internal decision making or ongoing development of policy.

We recognise there is a strong public interest in understanding how decisions are made. However, we have concluded that the public interest in maintaining space for internal discussion and ensuring effective cross government collaboration, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Regulation 10(4)(d) - Materials in the Course of Completion

Some documents or parts of documents have been withheld under Regulation 10(4)(d) where they represent material still in development or part of an incomplete decision-making process. This includes drafts or notes prepared to support evolving policy positions that have not yet been finalised or made public.

There is a public interest in protecting the integrity of policy making processes and avoiding the release of material that might misrepresent an incomplete position.

Regulation 6(1)(b) – Publicly Available Information

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we have not provided you with information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Regulation 11(2) - Personal Data of Third Parties

We have redacted personal data under Regulation 11(2) where disclosure would contravene the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This includes:

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party 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 exception 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 exception.

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 202500454580 - Information released - Documents

File type

PDF

File size

6.0 MB