Information regarding Marine Licence MS-00010433 and the Seagrass Enhancement and Monitoring Plan (SEMP): EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
Information requested
Under Freedom of Information can you please provide me with all emails and documents pertaining to the Marine Licence number MS-00010433.
This should include any emails or documents pertaining to the revised Seagrass Enhancement and Monitoring Plan (SEMP Rev.07) submitted by Argyll and Bute Council on 17/03/25.
Any emails between the Marine Directorate and NatureScot regarding the above License and SEMP.
Any emails between the Marine Directorate and Argyll and Bute Council regarding the above licence and SEMP.
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.
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, regulation 6(1)(b) Information publicly available, regulation 11(2) personal information and Regulation 10(4)(d) – material in course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the annex to this letter.
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.
Some of the information you have asked for regarding Marine Licence MS-00010433 is available using following links :-
ANNEX
Personal Information of a third party
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.
Material in course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data
An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs (unfinished or incomplete information) applies to some the information you have requested because it is material which is still in the course of completion.
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 release as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that incomplete information which is still being worked on or is under active consideration is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.
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