Energy and Climate Change Directorate meetings with oil and gas operators and/or organisations: EIR release

Information requested

Copies of all documents associated with all meetings held on the following dates between officials in the Energy and Climate Change Directorate and oil and gas operators and/or organisations representing oil and gas interests.

Please note there may be more than one relevant meeting on each date.

For each meeting, please include a list of attendees, agendas, minutes and any accompanying documents, including internal Scottish Government briefing notes for the meeting.

• 21 May 2024
• 28 May 2024
• 04 June 2024
• 10 July 2024
• 10 September 2024
• 8 October 2024
• 28 October 2024

Response

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.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

1. I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

2. Some of the information you have requested is available from CCUS Council minutes: 28 October 2024 (publishing.service.gov.uk). Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you 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.

3. 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. Therefore, we are refusing these aspects of your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.
• We are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exceptions under regulation(s) 10(5)(e) Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, 10(5)(f) - third party interests, 11(2) - personal data relating to a third party provided for by law to protect legitimate economic interest of the EIRs applies to that information and 10(4)(e) internal communications of the EIRs applies to that information.

The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Annex

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. In line with the Scottish Government’s record management policy, we are committed to a systematic and planned approach to the management of records within the organisation, from their creation to their ultimate disposal or archive. This approach ensures that Scottish Government can control the quality, quantity and security of the information that it generates, whilst maintaining information in an effective manner and ensuring compliance with our legislative requirements.

As part of this approach, the Scottish Government is committed to keeping accurate official records of all meetings where Government business was discussed and/or decisions made and/or actions taken forward. In the case of the current EIR request, some of the information requested does not exist because the meetings in question do not meet any of these conditions and are not, therefore, subject to the recording of official records.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about the official level meetings with oil and gas operators and/or organisations representing oil and gas interests, clearly, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 11(2) - personal data relating to a third party of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception has been applied to protect personal data. This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in the disclosure of personal data as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, the Scottish Government does not disclose the names of individuals who are below Senior Civil Service level or equivalent to below this level in the instance of private sector individuals. This approach has been taken in the respect of the names of individuals in the minutes being disclosed as part of this request. It is in the public interest to protect the personal information of junior civil servants and equivalent private sector actors and that is why the exception has been used.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, provided for by law to protect legitimate economic interest of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in the disclosure of commercial data as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in upholding application of exception. Disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, substantially prejudice the confidentiality of the commercial information provided by private sector organisations in relation to some of the meetings covered by the current EIR request.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(f) Third Party Interests. This exception has been applied to protect the interests of the information sharer, where the information provided was done so voluntarily. This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in the disclosure of commercial data as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in upholding application of exception. Disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, cause substantial prejudice to the interests of a person who provided information voluntarily to the Scottish Government, and they have not consented to this information being disclosed.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) internal communications of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because officials need to be able to provide free and frank advice to Ministers on matters which have been shared in confidence or are sensitive, and their ability to do this may be impacted by the knowledge that information may be published. In addition, officials need to be able to have free and frank conversations with each other as part of the policy development process, again their ability to do this may be impacted by the knowledge that information may be published.

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 202500456186 - Information released - Annex A

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PDF

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1.5 MB

EIR 202500456186 - Information released - Annex B

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PDF

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156.0 kB