Historic Environment Scotland correspondence regarding Edinburgh Castle dinner: FOI release

Information requested

“All correspondence between the Scottish Government and Historic Environment Scotland in relation to the dinner hosted by the Director of Marketing Stephen Duncan at Edinburgh Castle on August 11, 2025.
Please also provide all correspondence in relation to the ongoing HES 'review' or investigation in the matter, including any final reports and or recommendations.”

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in a PDF format.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections s.38(1)(b) (personal information); s33(1)(b) (commercial interests); and s36(2) (actionable breach of confidence) of FOISA applies to this information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX

An exemption applies

An exemption under s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. 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.

An exemption applies

An exemption under s.36(2) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested because the information requested because it was obtained from Historic Environment Scotland and disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. This is because the information is confidential, was provided in circumstances which imposed an obligation on the Scottish Government to maintain that confidentiality, and unauthorised disclosure would be to the detriment of the Historic Environment Scotland who provided the information. 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.

​​​​​​​An exemption applies, subject to the public interest test

An exemption under section s.33(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies to information which has a commercial interest, and disclosing the information may have a prejudicial effect.
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 due to the importance of government transparency. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting commercial interests.

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 202500488845 - Information Released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

406.3 kB