Visit to Granton Station View for the Edinburgh Home Demonstrator documentation: FOI release

Information requested

All documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received, minutes/notes from the meeting, briefings, analysis, from Shirley-Anne Somerville's visit to Granton Station View for the Edinburgh Home Demonstrator (EHD) on October 28 [2024].

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, in the format you asked for. Please note that there are no meeting notes or analysis of the visit, therefore I am unable to supply any information in relation to that part of your request. Some information contained within the documents attached to this letter has been redacted as it is not relevant to the Cabinet Sectary for Social Justice's visit to Granton Station View on 28 October 2024, and is therefore out of scope.

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 exemptions under sections s.30(b)(i) (substantial inhibition to free and frank provision of advice) and s.38(1)(b) (third party personal data) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

An exemption under section s.30(b)(i) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. The exemption recognises the need for Ministers to have a private space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching the settled public position which will be given in whatever final lines to take are used. Disclosing the content of free and frank briefing material on the implementation of Scottish Government policy will substantially inhibit such briefing in the future.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in the release of information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers in lines to take. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly provide sound information to Parliament (to which they are accountable), and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

An exemption under s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, that is, names and contact details of individuals, 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.

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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 202500465766 - Information released - Documents

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4.8 MB