First Minister’s Scotland 2050 Conference speech information: FOI release

Information requested

• Any briefings, briefing notes or draft speeches prepared for the First Minister’s Scotland 2050 Conference speech on 17 June 2025.
• Any email correspondence related to the First Minister’s Scotland 2050 Conference speech on 17 June 2025.
• The evidence for the First Minister’s statement in his speech that “That is why, like a clear majority of Scots, I believe that our nation should have the right to choose our future.” Please provide the opinion polls, survey results or other evidence that shows this to be the case.

Response

I enclose a copy of the information that you requested under the first two parts of your FOISA request in the attached Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information that you have requested because exemptions under sections 25 (information otherwise accessible); section 30(b)(i) (free and frank provision of advice); section 30(b)(ii) (exchange of views); section 30(c) (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) and section 38(1) (personal data) of FOISA applies to this information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are provided in Annex B to this letter. For this response we have considered the most recent of the draft series of speeches, as previous versions directly inputted into this later draft. If the earlier drafts were to be considered, section 30(b)(ii) would be applied where relevant. The most recent draft speech is identical to the published version which can be found at Scotland 2050 Conference: First Minister's speech - 17 June 2025 - gov.scot, so section 25 has been applied in this case. We have also redacted the following final communication release and the two accompanying documents it relates to - the release at: Scotland in 2050 - gov.scot; the Horizon Scanning report at: Future Trends for Scotland: findings from the 2024-2025 horizon scanning project - gov.scot; and the Young People and the Future of Scotland document: Young People and the Future of Scotland: participatory horizon scanning engagement - gov.scot

For the final part of your question, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because this was obtained from publicly available material.

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 202500471428 - Information released - Annex B

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PDF

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65.3 kB

FOI 202500471428 - Information released - Annex A

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PDF

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5.1 MB