President of the United States documentation: FOI release

Information requested

All documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about Donald Trump, from the last month, specifically documents received by John Swinney and/or Kate Forbes' office/departments.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested at Annex A.

I have interpreted your request as any information that includes substantive references to Donald Trump or the US President that has been sent to the First Minister or Deputy First Minister between 17 May and 17 June.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some the information you have requested because exemptions of FOISA under sections, s.38(1)(b) personal information, s.30(c) otherwise prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs, s.30 (b) (i), free and frank provision of advice, applies to that information. The reasons why those exemptions apply are explained below.

An exemption under section 30(b)(i) - free and frank provision of advice of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This applies to information in the First Minister’s Question’s briefs. It applies so as to protect the private space for officials and ministers to share free and frank views as part of the drafting process.

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 release because of the interest in disclosing information as part of an open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing a private space within which officials and Ministers can provide free and frank views to one another as part of the drafting process for government documents.

An exemption under section 30(c) - Substantial prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This applies to information within First Ministers Questions briefing pack and some information in covering emails.

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 release because of the interest in disclosing information as part of an open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting the space for ministers and officials to engage in full and frank discussions on issues pertaining to ongoing policy matters.

An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This applies to personal information of non-senior civil servants. 5. 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.

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 202500471352 - Information released - Annex A

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