Scottish Government Cabinet Sub-Committee meeting dates and membership on Climate Emergency: EIR release

Information requested

• the dates of meetings of the Scottish Government Cabinet Sub-Committee for the Climate Emergency since its inception in 2021
• the details of which Scottish Government Ministers or Cabinet Secretaries attended these Cabinet Sub-Committee for the Climate Emergency meetings
• any documentation relevant to the meetings, included but not limited to:
• a list of attendees and their affiliations
• what topics were discussed
• any briefings or other information provided to attendees or officials minutes, and;
• any agreed actions

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(ii) 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 some of the information you requested, which can be found at Annex A:

• the dates of meetings of the Scottish Government Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Climate Emergency since its inception in 2021
• a list of memberships of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Climate Emergency since its inception in 2021

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information under this part of your request because an exception under Regulation 10(4)(a) (information
not held) applies to it:

• …attendees and their affiliations

This exceptions allows public authorities to refuse to make environmental information available if they do not hold the information when the request is received. The information requested relates to activity which elected members have undertaken that is not on behalf of the Scottish Government, therefore, the information is not held by the Scottish Government. MSPs are not public authorities in their own right, and do not hold information for the purposes of the EIRs. While information relating to constituency and party political activities is often created and stored by the Scottish Parliament, this information is held on behalf of the elected member rather than the Scottish Government.

We are also unable to provide the information under this part of your request because an exception under Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) applies to it:

• any documentation relevant to the meetings, including but not limited to:
• a list of attendees and their affiliations
• what topics were discussed
• any briefings or other information provided to attendees or officials minutes, and;
• any agreed actions

The reasons for applying this exception are set out below.

The same considerations apply here as they do under section 30(b)(ii) (the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation) of the FOISA, which recognises the need to allow Ministers some private space for discussion.

Similar to the exemption at section 39(ii) of the FOISA, 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 disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing Ministers and officials a private space within which to explore policy development.

Cabinet Sub-Committees have full delegated decision-making powers from Cabinet, in line with the provisions of the Scottish Ministerial Code and it follows that all information considered by Cabinet Sub-Committees must be handled with great care. Properly functioning Cabinet processes are generally recognised to be of vital public interest: Cabinet government is based on the principle of collective responsibility, which the Scottish Ministerial Code defines in the following terms:

"The principle of collective responsibility requires that Ministers should be able to express their views frankly in the expectation that they can argue freely in private while maintaining a united front when decisions have been reached. This in turn requires that the privacy of opinions expressed and advice offered within the Government should be maintained. The internal processes through which a Government decision has been made should not normally be disclosed." (Scottish Ministerial Code, 2025 edition, paragraphs 6.1 and 6.4)

Cabinet papers, including Cabinet minutes, are invariably produced on the assumption that they will not be disclosed until a significant amount of time has elapsed (Cabinet papers are currently proactively published after 15 years has passed).

This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy making process, which 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 202500486579 - Information Released - Annex A

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