Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero materials: EIR release

Information requested

Could you supply all minutes/notes meetings, briefings and correspondence about/between the Scottish Government and Ed Miliband, from the last three months?

This period has been taken as 02 April 2025 to 02 July 2025.

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 have included copies of some of the information you requested in Annex B.

On reviewing materials within scope of your request some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs.

You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.

Annex A

Regulation 10(4)(e) – Internal communication

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(4)(e), Internal communications, applies to some of the information you have requested.

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 releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in allowing Scottish Government officials and Ministers to share free and frank views for the purpose of deliberation of any given policy.

Regulation 10(5)(a) – International relations, national security

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(5)(a) applies to some of the information you have requested.

This exception allows a Scottish public authority to refuse to disclose environmental information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, cause substantial prejudice to international relations.

Regulation 10(5)(e) – Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(5)(e), confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, applies to some of the information requested.

This exception applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, substantially prejudice the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information.

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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.

We recognise there is some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, withholding information outweighs the public interest in disclosing commercially sensitive information that was shared in confidence with the Scottish Government.

Regulation 10(5)(f) – Third Party Interests

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(5)(f), Third Party Interests, applies to some of the information you have requested.

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 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 releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government. However, disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, significantly impair the Scottish Government’s ability to develop policies with the input from third parties who provided information voluntarily to the Scottish Government.

Regulation 11(2) – Personal data

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under regulation 11(2), Personal Data, applies to some of the information requested.

Information has been redacted under Regulation 11 (Personal Data), as it contains personal information 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.

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 202500474141 - Information released - Annex B

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