Correspondence relating to The North South Tram Extension: EIR Review

Information requested

Original Request 202500473596

Please share details of all correspondence and meetings between

• Scottish government ministers and officials: and
• Edinbrugh City Council councillors and officials

from June 2024

in relation to the tram extension from Granton to BioQuarter (“The North South Tram Extension”) including but not limited to:

• email correspondence and letters
• Agendas and minutes of meetings held online and in person
• WhatsApp and SMS messages
• Copies of all statutory guidance / relevant budgets / law which is referred to in any of the above

Please provide the information in the form of electronic copies.

Response

I have now completed my review of the response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

“details of all correspondence and meetings between Scottish government ministers and officials: and Edinburgh City Council councillors and officials from June 2024 in relation to the tram extension from Granton to BioQuarter (“The North South Tram Extension”) including but not limited to: email correspondence and letters Agendas and minutes of meetings held online and in person WhatsApp and SMS messages Copies of all statutory guidance / relevant budgets / law which is referred to in any of the above”

I have concluded that our response should be confirmed with modifications.

In summary, you consider that a draft minute of a meeting between the Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council should have been made available, and that the response should have stated the bodies responsible for completing the minute and the timeline for doing so. I can confirm that the latter point was covered in the original Transport Scotland response, which stated that the meeting note was still to be finalised by both parties (Transport Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council) and would be released “in the next 4-6 weeks”. The note has now been finalised and I attach a copy.

I must still consider your request for the release of the draft meeting minute and I have concluded that the exception at regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs applies to this information for the reasons set out in the initial response. I have also reconsidered the public interest test in relation to this information, and I agree with the original rationale:

“However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information which is still in being worked on or is under active consideration is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.”

Other material

In the course of undertaking my review I have identified other material that was relevant to your original request and that should have been disclosed to you. I apologise for these omissions and have asked the original responding team to consider how improvements could be made to their processes to avoid such a situation reoccurring.

​​​​​​​I am also providing material that was released in response to another, similar EIR request. While this material is not captured by your original request, I consider that it will be of interest to you.

​​​​​​​The material in question is as follows:

1. A Transport Scotland briefing for the Transport Scotland chief executive’s meeting with the chief executive of City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) (Appendix A)
2. Correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and the CEC Transport and Environment convener (Appendix B).
3. Email correspondence between CEC and Transport Scotland officials (Appendix C).
4. Correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Cllr Arthur (Appendix D).
5. Correspondence between Transport Scotland and a member of the public (Appendix E).
6. Correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Angus Robertson MSP (Appendix F).
7. The finalised meeting note referred to above is attached at Appendix G.

Please note that I am unable to provide all of the above information in full because exceptions apply under the EIRs. This includes exceptions under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) which applies to personal data of a third party, where 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.

​​​​​​​The specific exceptions are as follows:​​​​​​​

• In relation to point 1 above I have redacted information that I consider falls under the heading of ‘Internal communications’ (EIR Regulation 10(4)(e)). It is internal communication between Scottish Government officials, providing a briefing for a meeting. This exception is subject to the public interest test. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, I have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. I recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing officials to brief freely and provide advice/ comment on the possible actions of the Scottish Government in a highly sensitive area. It does not necessarily represent the views of Scottish Ministers and disclosing the information may potentially mislead public discussion of an important issue. Officials’ candour in providing advice will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on such matters will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that issue while it is still under discussion and development.
• Point 2: I have redacted the convener’s mobile phone number as this is personal information
• Point 3, 5 and 7: I have redacted names as this is personal information

Further, please note that any information in the above documents that does not relate to your original request has been deemed ‘out of scope’ and therefore removed.​​​​​​​

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 202500477518 - Information Released - Annex

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