Storm overflow documentation: EIR release

Information requested

• Please provide a copy of all documents which discuss the written parliamentary question S6W-38373 submitted by Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP.
• Please provide a copy of all documents which discuss the recommendation by Environmental Standards Scotland, initially made in its September 2024 report into storm overflows, that the Scottish Government publish up-to-date, clear and specific guidance about the exceptional circumstances in which it is permissible for storm overflows to spill.

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.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government Website forming the response to a prior EIR request on a similar subject (Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) sewage report correspondence: EIR release - gov.scot). 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.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to all 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.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it pertains to material in the course of completion. Document 6 relates to the drafting of a response from the Scottish Government to ESS, as well as the development of a response to a Parliamentary Question (S6W-38373) from Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP. The final version of the Cabinet Secretary’s letter in response to ESS is included as Document 2. The final answer to Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP’s question is available at the Scottish Parliament website (Written question and answer: S6W-38373 | Scottish Parliament Website). If 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.

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 because there is a clear interest in the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations made by Environmental Standards Scotland, and in the response by the Cabinet Secretary to Mr Cole-Hamilton’s Parliamentary Question. However, this is outweighed by the fact that the final versions of these responses are indeed publicly available, and that providing incomplete versions of these responses in and of themselves would not be in the public interest.

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.

EIR 202500471439 - Information released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

1.9 MB