Correspondence regarding Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran: EIR release

Information requested

1. Any documents, reports, briefings, or papers produced by, or commissioned by, the Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers relating to a just transition plan for Mossmorran following the commitment in April 2024 to deliver a Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran;

2. Any internal Scottish Government communications (emails, memos, meeting notes) relating to the progress, planning or consideration relating to a just transition for Mossmorran following the commitment in April 2024 to deliver a Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran;

3. Details of any working groups, task forces or cross-departmental meetings where a just transition for Mossmorran has been discussed (including relevant agendas and minutes) following the commitment in April 2024 to deliver a Just Transition Plan for Mossmorran;

4. Any correspondence between the Scottish Government and ExxonMobil and Shell, relating to the Mossmorran site.

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.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

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) and regulation 10(5)(e) of
the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested.

Regulation 11(2) applies to personal data relating to a third party (in this case, contact information of Scottish Government officials and industry members).

An exception under Regulation 10(5)(e) applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(5)(e) applies to confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, provided for by law to protect legitimate economic 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.

FOI 202500494791 - Information Released - Documents

File type

PDF

File size

273.3 kB