Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) correspondence between First Minister and Deputy First Minister: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202500482976

1. The number of Scottish Government officials who support the work of the Wellbeing Economy Governments Partnership Secretariat. Please provide the number of individuals and their pay band as at 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and so far in 2025-26.

2. All the work conducted by Scottish Government officials in preparation for the Wellbeing Economy Governments event in Brussels on 5th June.

3. All correspondence between the officials working in the secretariat and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister since 8 May 2024. To be clear, please only provide correspondence that is related to the secretariat’s work with the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership.

4. All attendees, notes and minutes held of the First Minister’s meeting with Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2025 and any actions taken by the Scottish Government following this meeting.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request number 202500482976 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for:-

1. The number of Scottish Government officials who support the work of the Wellbeing Economy Governments Partnership Secretariat. Please provide the number of individuals and their pay band as at 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and so far in 2025-26.

2. All the work conducted by Scottish Government officials in preparation for the Wellbeing Economy Governments event in Brussels on 5th June.

3. All correspondence between the officials working in the secretariat and the First Minister and Deputy First Minister since 8 May 2024. To be clear, please only provide correspondence that is related to the secretariat’s work with the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership.

4. All attendees, notes and minutes held of the First Minister’s meeting with Aileen McLeod on 5 August 2025 and any actions taken by the Scottish Government following this meeting.

You subsequently requested a review as follows: -

“Please may I request a review of the freedom of information request given the reference number 202500482976.

One of the documents provided in response redacted two points from Aileen McLeod’s discussion with John Swinney on the grounds that it would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. Thisredaction is subject to the public interest test and I believe it has not been correctly applied in this instance. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance has received taxpayer funding and benefits from Scottish Government civil service resources – the public has a right to know what discussions have taken place between this group and the First Minister, given that they are lobbying to change government policy. The Scottish Information Commissioner recently ruled that the test for withholding information under this section is high. Authorities must demonstrate a ‘real risk or likelihood of substantial prejudice at some time in the near (or foreseeable) future’. The Scottish Government has made no attempt to demonstrate this point.

Therefore, I would like to request that this information be provided in full, with section 30(c) redactions removed.”

I have been asked to re-examine your request, to decide whether the original response should be confirmed, with or without modifications, as appropriate, or a fresh decision be substituted. I can confirm that I was not involved in the handling or decision-making around the original response. I have considered this case again, and have conducted a comprehensive review of the response, and the reasons behind withholding the requested information under section 30(c) of the Freedom of Information (S) Act 2002.

In accordance with section 21(4) of FOISA, I have reached a decision on your request.

Having reviewed the information I have concluded that we were incorrect to apply a FOISA section 30(c) exemption to one of the two bullet points within the Ministerial Meeting note provided to you within the Annex, of which I have provided that information to you now below:

• Strong interest in engagement with Scotland from Nordic Hubs

However for the second bullet point within that same document I am satisfied that the application of section 30(c) of FOISA was appropriately applied.

I apologise that a formal notice of this was not provided in our initial response and have provided some reasoning as to why the exemption has been applied below.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to all of the information requested. Disclosing this information would substantially prejudice our ability to conduct free and frank discussion with stakeholders because they would become reluctant to engage with us this openly. This would constitute substantial prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs in terms of the exemption.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the process of free and frank discussion and ensuring that the Scottish Government is able conduct this aspect of its business effectively. Removing the redaction would impact negatively on the effective conduct of public affairs.

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.