Correspondence with SSE regarding energy consenting in Scotland: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
1. “Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the First Minister and any member of SSE’s Board of Directors regarding energy consenting in Scotland . Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 November 2024 and 11 March 2025 inclusive.
2. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy and any member of SSE’s Board of Directors or Group Executive Committee regarding energy consenting in Scotland . Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 November 2024 and 11 March 2025 inclusive.
3. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between any Scottish Government official with a rank of deputy director or higher and any member of SSE’s Board of Directors or Group Executive Committee regarding energy consenting in Scotland . Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 November 2024 and 11 March 2025 inclusive.”
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.
Response to your request
I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested. Please find ‘Annex A’ attached, which is all the correspondence that we hold within scope of your request. This is in date order.
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.
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