Correspondence received by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition regarding Highly Protected Marine Areas: EIR release

Information requested

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to request the following information:

Please provide the number of items of correspondence (including letters and emails) received by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition from the following MSPs:

• Alasdair Allan
• Fergus Ewing
• Kate Forbes

concerning Highly Protected Marine Areas between 13 May 2021 and 31 June 2023.

Where possible, I would also be grateful for all copies of this correspondence, redacted as appropriate.

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(2) 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.

Please note that our searches have been carried out between the dates 13 May 2021 and 30 June 2023.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested which consists of 3 pdfs.

Some of the information you have requested is available from: Response 495288972 to Scottish Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format, however I have included this as item number two in recognition of its link to item number one.

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 an exception under regulation 11(2), personal data of a third party. Why that exception applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you of questions put forward by MSPs relevant to this request via the Parliamentary Questions process.

Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) Parliamentary Questions – Written and Oral

Below are the two PQs that were asked between 13 May 2021 and 30 June 2023 with either “HPMA” or “Highly Protected Marine Areas” in the question from any/all of the MSPs relating to this request.

Reference (including link)	Question text	MSP	Answered date
S6W-11752	To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that Island Communities Impact Assessments (ICIAs) are required to be carried out in relation to areas that are near to proposed Highly Protected Marine Areas, and, if it is the case, whether any such ICIAs have been conducted to date.	Alasdair Allan	10/11/22
S6O-02101	To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide to fishers in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency who have reportedly expressed concern about their livelihoods and the future of their communities in light of the potential economic and cultural impact Highly Protected Marine Areas may have on coastal and island communities once designated.	Alasdair Allan	19/04/23

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and 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.

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 - 202500490824 - Information released - Annex

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