First Minister's visit to Washington DC and meeting with the US President: FOI release

Information requested

1) Any internal and external communication relating to the visit to Washington DC and meeting with the US President Donald Trump on September 9. This should cover the period from August 1 to date and include any briefings, minutes of the meeting itself, and agendas, handouts and attendee lists.

2) The cost, with a breakdown of costs for travel and accommodation, for the trip in September.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested to answer the first question in this request would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. This is because the volume of internal and external communications about the First Minister’s visit to Washington from 1 August to 14 September.

Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, by limiting the scope of the request to briefing material and readouts only or by reducing the date range for the trawl of information. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx 

I have interpreted the second question in your request as a breakdown of costs for the First Minister’s delegation to Washington between 7-9 September.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested attached as Annex A.

Please be aware that the above table does not include information relating to the cost of travel for the First Minister and for the Special Adviser who accompanied him on this visit. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide this information because an exemption under section 27(1) Information intended for future publication of FOISA applies to that information. This exemption applies as details of ministerial engagements, travel and gifts and Special Advisers gifts and hospitality will be published within the next 12 weeks and will be available when published at the links below. 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. Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Special advisers: gifts and hospitality - gov.scot.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in Ministerial and Special Advisers travel. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in minimising the resource implications of the duplication of work.

Some of the costs incurred for this trip were in relation to security matters for the First Minister. The Scottish Government does not comment on the First Minister’s security matters. An exemption under section 39(1) of FOISA (health of safety) applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, endanger the physical or mental health or safety of an individual.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in the arrangements for the First Minister’s security. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in the safety of the First Minister.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because some of the information you have requested is the personal data of third parties. This exemption 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 exemption.

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 202500484766 - Information released - Annex A

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