Contract manager for Victoria Quay Nursery information: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202500470867

All information, including reports, correspondence and internal communications (whether draft or in final form), about the decision to transfer responsibility for managing the nursery contract from People Directorate to the Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate, with (name redacted) being appointed as the contract manager.

Response

Thank you for your email dated 14th July 2025, in which you requested a review of our response dated 15th June 2025 to your FOI (202500470867 contract manager for Victoria Quay Nursery) “All information, including reports, correspondence and internal communications (whether draft or in final form), about the decision to transfer responsibility for managing the nursery contract from People Directorate to the Scottish Procurement and Property Directorate, with (name redacted) being appointed as the contract manager”.

You specifically asked us to re-examine the application of the exemption at 38(1)(b)of FOISA with regards to redacting the names of two junior members of staff. Your request mentioned that the contract manager’s name is already in the public domain, as published on the Public Contracts Scotland website. Therefore, you believe that no exemption should be applied to it. Additionally, you argued that the same should apply to the name of the previous contract manager. Furthermore, you felt that withholding the names of other staff in grades below the Senior Civil Service was not in accordance with the Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance, specifically paragraphs 82 to 85. You also noted that our response lacked a detailed explanation of how the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR were contravened. You also queried our application of section 60 Code of Practice response that certain attachments were considered out of scope because they did not directly refer to the transfer of management responsibility, which was the subject of your request.

After reviewing our original response, I conclude that our decision to withhold the names of junior officials under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA should be confirmed with a modification as we did not fully explain why the exemption applied to these two particular Scottish Government junior officials. Disclosing these names would contravene the data protection principles set out in the UK GDPR, as these individuals are not in senior or public-facing roles and would not reasonably expect their names to be disclosed. This is in line with our general approach, which is set out on our staff intranet, Saltire. Specifically, it is the first data protection principle in Article 5(1) of the GDPR which would be contravened through release of this information, 5(1)(a), which states that personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject. We have determined that such disclosure would be unfair and therefore unlawful. We have determined that disclosing the names of junior officials would be unfair to them, we are simultaneously concluding that such a disclosure would be unlawful because it would breach the fundamental data protection principles set out in the UK GDPR.

In considering that 5(1)(a) will be contravened, we have concluded that the only condition that could apply to allow us to lawfully process personal data and disclose that information in response to your request is 6(f) –
“processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.”

Therefore, I have gone on to consider whether you have a legitimate interest in the information, and whether your legitimate interests in the information outweigh the rights and freedoms of the data subjects in this case. Although the name of one of the individuals, the contract manager, is published alongside the contract we do not consider that this means their name should be disclosed publicly in this context. Having considered whether you have a legitimate interest in the names of these individuals I have concluded that you do not, because their names add nothing to the understanding of the information that you have requested. It is not necessary to disclose the names to allow you to understand the information. Even if you did have a legitimate interest which would make the processing of the personal data necessary for the purposes of responding to your request, I have concluded that the rights and freedoms of the data subjects in this case outweigh any such legitimate interests. The data subjects are junior officials who would not expect disclosure of their names in this way, making such disclosure unfair.

To summarise, our grounds for withholding names under the exemption at 38(1)(b) are the lack of a lawful basis for disclosure, unfairness to the individual, and the risk of harm or distress. I have ensured that the exemption has not been applied in a blanket fashion and have individually considered each official's name.

I have also thoroughly reviewed each of the withheld attachments and conclude that most of them pertained to unrelated topics such as the swimming pool and conditions of lease. However, I did find that the attachments titled "Victoria Quay Options Paper" should have been considered within a broader scope, and hence, redacted versions are now released, note that there are three separate drafts of the same paper written in January, March and April 2024. I believe our approach to the scope was unduly narrow, especially given the obligations set out in the Section 60 Code of Practice. I have now provided the further attachments which I now consider in scope of the request.

I have also noted that the reference to GPDR in our previous response was a typing error and should have read UK GDPR.

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 202500475645 - Information released - Attachments

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