NHS Fife statement on the recommencement of the employment tribunal information: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202500486035

1. Correspondence with NHS Fife
– All correspondence (emails, letters, Teams/Slack chats, WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, call notes, and any attachments/drafts) exchanged between:
• Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray, his Private Office, and/or Health & Social Care Communications;
• Special Advisers assigned to Health;
• Director-General Health and Social Care Caroline Lamb and relevant senior officials;
and
• NHS Fife (including Chief Executive Carol Potter and NHS Fife Communications).

2. Drafts
Any drafts of the statement (or extracts) seen by the Scottish Government prior to publication, and records indicating who within SG saw them and when.

3. Clearance/approval trail
– Submissions, cover emails, advice notes, or decision logs indicating whether SG commented on, requested changes to, or approved the statement or its edits.

4. Rationale and risk handling
– Briefings, lines-to-take, media handling notes, or risk assessments prepared for or sent to Neil Gray / his Private Office / Special Advisers / Health & Social Care Communications / DG Health that reference the statement or its subsequent edits.

5. Correspondence logs
– Email/message schedules held by the above offices showing the existence and dates/times of relevant items.

Timeframe: 1 July 2025 to 31 July 2025.

Response

I can confirm that I have revisited the information that is in scope of your request and reconsidered the application of exemptions section 30(b)(i), 30(b)(ii) and section 38(1)(b) as per your dissatisfaction.

My conclusion is that the review should be confirmed with modifications and have outlined my findings below:

In relation to the information that was withheld under sections 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) of FoI(S)A I confirm that we were incorrect to not confirm which information was withheld explicitly under which exemption and that the public interest test had not been applied correctly for each. As a result of the review, information continues to be withheld under each of the exemptions and I have outlined the reasons why and applied the public interest test accordingly.

Section 30(b)(i) – free and frank advice

An exemption under section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers and other officials before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view.

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.

Section 30(b)(ii) – free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation

An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (free and frank exchange of views) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers and officials to have a private space within which to discuss and explore options before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view.

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.

In relation to the application of section 38(1)(b) – Third party personal information, I accept that this was not applied consistently to some information. I have now rectified this and where appropriate have now released that personal information. Please accept our apologies for this.

Some personal information continues to be withheld as it relates to junior officials and I can confirm that the personal data is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR and in section 34(1) of the DPA 2018. The exemption is absolute, so it is not subject to the public interest test in section 2(1) of FOISA. Please accept my apologies that this was not clear within the original response.

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FOI 202500491069 - Information Released - Annex

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