Heat in Buildings Bill correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

1. Any briefing or speaking notes provided to Alasdair Allan ahead of his ministerial statement on Wednesday 3 April 2025 on the Heat in Buildings bill.

2. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the First Minister and the office of the Minister for Climate Action regarding the Heat in Buildings Bill.

3. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the First Minister and the office of the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy regarding the Heat in Buildings Bill.

4. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between Scottish Government officials with a rank of deputy director or higher regarding the Heat in Buildings Bill.

You requested that the information on correspondence include, but not be limited to, a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals, covering the period from 1 October 2024 and 9 April 2025, inclusive.

Response

Question 1

Please find attached three documents relevant to your request.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications), 10(5)(f) (third party interests) of the EIRs applies to that information. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications, while 10(5)(f) allows Scottish public authorities to withhold information that would likely cause substantial prejudice to the interests of the person who provided information voluntarily to the authority.

These exceptions are 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 exceptions because development work for the Heat in Buildings Bill is still ongoing.

Some of the information you have requested, such as the Minister’s speech, is available from the Scottish Parliament’s Official Report which you can access here: Meeting of the Parliament: 03/04/2025| Scottish Parliament Website. 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 listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Question 2

Please find attached three documents relevant to your request.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications. 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 exceptions because development work for the Heat in Buildings Bill is still ongoing.

The document ‘Briefing for Ministers’ relates to material included in a Cabinet Paper. While we recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, we do not consider disclosure of this information to be in the public interest. Cabinet papers are invariably produced on the assumption that they will not be disclosed until a significant amount of time has elapsed. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy-/decisionmaking.

Question 3

Please find attached seven documents relevant to your request.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications. 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 exceptions because development work for the Heat in Buildings Bill is still ongoing.

Question 4

Please find attached 16 documents relevant to your request.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exception under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications. 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 exceptions because development work for the Heat in Buildings Bill is still ongoing.

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EIR 202500461314 - Information released - Documents

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