Meeting details between the Stove Industry Association and the Scottish Government: EIR request

Information requested

1. Please could you provide any agenda, minutes or meeting notes relating to the meetings with the Stove Industry Association and the Scottish Government on the dates below:

• 27 June 2024
• 10 July 2024
• 31 July 2024

2.  Please tell me how many meetings (including online meetings) have taken place between the Scottish Government ministers and officials and the Stove Industry Association (or the Stove Industry Alliance) where the issue of wood-burning stoves was discussed, between 31st October 2023 and the latest date for which records are available.

If possible, please provide the date, the topic and the nature of the meeting. If possible, please also specify whether the Secretary of State or other ministers were in attendance.

3. Please tell me how many meetings (including online meetings) have taken place between the Scottish Government ministers and officials where the issue of woodburning stoves was discussed, between 31st October 2023 and the latest date for which records are available.

If possible, please provide the date, the topic and the nature of meeting. If possible, please also specify whether the Secretary of State or other ministers were in attendance.

4. Please tell me how many meetings (including online meetings) have taken place between Scottish Government staff and ministers and the following clean air campaigners listed below where the issue of wood-burning stoves was discussed, between 31st October 2023 and the latest date for which records are available.

• Mums for Lungs
• Asthma and Lung
• Global Action Plan (Action for Clean Air)
• Impact for Urban Health
• Clean Air in London (Simon Birkett)
• Client Earth
• The Ella Roberta Foundation

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.

Question 1

I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex B.

On reviewing materials within scope of your request, some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs.

You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.

Question 2

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.

Where information is already publicly available I have provided you with the links to the relevant websites. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Meetings attended by Ministers, dating up to August 2025, are publicly available and can be found at the link below:

• Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts

Some documents relevant to this section of your request can also be found in the following EIR publication on the Scottish Government website, here:

• New Build Heat Standards and wood burning stove data: EIR release

As part of the publication above, there are three PDF attachments towards the bottom of the page that contain the information relevant to this section of your request.

In addition, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested. No meetings were held between The Scottish Government and the Stove Industry Association (or the Stove Industry Alliance) during the timeframe September 2025, up to the date of your request.

Therefore, with respect to this timeframe of your request, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 3

I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex C.

On reviewing materials within scope of your request, some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs.

You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.

Question 4

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.

Where information is already publicly available I have provided you with the links to the relevant websites. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

As previously provided in our response to question 2 of your request, Meetings attended by Ministers, dating up to August 2025, are publicly available and can be found at the link below

• Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts

For ease, I have listed below the details of meetings you requested about:

• 1 meeting on 22 November 2023 with Asthma and Lung UK
• 1 meeting on 29 February 2024 with Asthma and Lung UK
• 1 meeting on 29 May 2025 with Asthma and Lung UK

In addition, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested. No meetings were held between The Scottish Government and any of the other clean air campaigners requested during the timeframe September 2025, up to the date of your request.

Therefore, with respect to this timeframe of your request, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

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.

EIR 202500494885 - Information released - Annex A - Annec C

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