Ministerial communications to Scottish public bodies on due diligence: FOI release

Information requested

• Advice to Scottish public bodies on due diligence in 2021, may we either be directed to this or could you share?
• A letter from the Minister to companies identified as having a relationship with Scottish public bodies and being on the database, could this letter be shared and also the list of companies in receipt of this letter?
• Another letter to companies in March 2023, similarly could we have sight of this text and the companies in receipt?

Response

I am responding to each of your requests in turn:

• Advice to Scottish public bodies on due diligence in 2021, may we either be directed to this or could you share?

Please, see attached Document 1.

• A letter from the Minister to companies identified as having a relationship with Scottish public bodies and being on the database, could this letter be shared and also the list of companies in receipt of this letter?

Letters from the then Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise to companies (in June 2022) on the UN Database who were identified as having a relationship with a Scottish public body were released as part of an FoI request and can be found publicly here: Occupied Palestinian Territories: FOI release - gov.scot. All 7 companies who were identified as having a relation with a Scottish public body received this letter (i.e. Motorola, JCB, Egis, Airbnb, Expedia, Trip Advisor, Booking.Com).

• Another letter to companies in March 2023, similarly could we have sight of this text and the companies in receipt?

The companies which were written to in June 2022 (as above) were written to again in March 2023. Please, see attached Documents 2 to 8.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested under the following exemptions of FOISA and FOIA that apply to sections of the information:

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested as 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 exemption 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 exemption.

Additionally, some of the information you have requested is available through a previously published FOI request through the link as provided above. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 202500459679 - Information released - Documents

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