National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group information: FOI Review

Information requested

Original Request 202500491045

Information regarding the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group.
1. The dates and minutes of all meetings of the Group held since 1 January 2023.
2. A list of any sub-groups or working groups established by the Group, with their purpose and membership where available.
3. Copies of any action plans, risk registers, reports, or recommendations produced by the Group during this period.
4. Details of any ministerial attendance, or any briefings to Ministers or Special Advisers arising from the Group’s work since 1 January 2023.
5. The Group’s current Terms of Reference, membership list, and governance structure, including which Scottish Government Directorate or Deputy Director has responsibility for its secretariat.
6. Any plans or timetables for publication of outputs or evaluations of the Group’s effectiveness.

Response

I have now completed my review of our initial response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) of 26 November, in relation to our initial response of 25 November (202500491045) to your initial request of 28 October where you requested the following information:

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I would be grateful if you could provide the following information regarding the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group.
1. The dates and minutes of all meetings of the Group held since 1 January 2023.
2. A list of any sub-groups or working groups established by the Group, with their purpose and membership where available.
3. Copies of any action plans, risk registers, reports, or recommendations produced by the Group during this period.
4. Details of any ministerial attendance, or any briefings to Ministers or Special Advisers arising from the Group’s work since 1 January 2023.
5. The Group’s current Terms of Reference, membership list, and governance structure, including which Scottish Government Directorate or Deputy Director has responsibility for its secretariat.
6. Any plans or timetables for publication of outputs or evaluations of the Group’s effectiveness.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

The response to your initial request advises that information was withheld under the following exemptions of FoI(S)A:
Section 25(1) – otherwise available
Section 29(1)(a) – Formulation of Policy
Section 30(b)(i) - the free and frank provision of advice
Section 30(c) - the effective conduct of public affairs
Section 38(1)(b) – Personal Information

As part of this review I wish to confirm that there has been no information withheld under section 30(c) of FoI(S)A and its inclusion within your response was an error. Please accept my apologies for this inaccuracy.
I have also noted that an exemption category was not explicitly referenced in the original response to information that could reasonably be obtained elsewhere – section 25(1) of FoI(S)A. This should have been explicitly stated and was in reference to the link to the pages on the National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group - gov.scot shared as part of the response. I have therefore reapplied section 25(1) to the initial response, and, in doing so, identified some content that was already published and available on that page, two minutes of meetings from 8 October and 2 April, albeit in a different format (html not word).

I have also identified that an attachment that should have been provided was omitted from our response in error. I apologise for this, and this has been included in the revised version of the Annex provided in this response.

I have reviewed all the information withheld, under sections 29(1)(a) and 30(b)(i) (you have not asked for a review of the application of 38(1)(b)) and for the most part I am content that these exemptions were correctly applied and I have provided detail in the section below in the application of these categories and the public interest test.
During my review I have not found that entire documents have been withheld, and that redactions are, in the main, proportionate and justified. There are very few documents of the nature that you have requested that are not already part of the public record and available on The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group webpage.

However, of the ones that were provided across Annex 1 and Annex 2 of the initial response, I have found that some of the content could be disclosed. That is because some of the content within these documents is now in the public domain, on the website listed above, or is in another public facing website, referenced as part of the publicly available content. Furthermore, there is some content that was set out in Annex 2, supplied in the initial response, but had exemptions applied to similar or the same content in some parts of Annex 1. That is probably understandable as the content across both Annexes were from different sources.

As part of my review, I have reconsidered the information that is in scope of your request and the exemptions that have been applied to it. In particular I have revisited the application of exemptions of section.29(1)(a) and section.30 (b)(i) across the content in the two Annexes of information provided in the initial response. I have found that, on small number of occasions, in my view, these exemptions have been applied to information that should be disclosed.

I have gone on to reconsider the public interest test in relation the information that continues to be withheld under sections 29(1)(a) and 30(b)(i).

In relation to the information that remains withheld under section 29(1)(a), I am content that it falls under the exemption because it relates to the formulation or development of Scottish Government policy. In a few instances in the initial response where information was withheld on the grounds of 29(1)(a), formulation of policy, it was inconsistent with what was already published or what was contained in the detail of Annex 2 that was also supplied in the response. Therefore I have aligned this to only withhold information which falls under the formulation or development of policy and that, in my view meets the public interest test in favour of being released.

When applying the public interest test, I recognise the public interest in disclosure on grounds of transparency and accountability. I further recognise that there is, as you suggest, a strong public interest in the accuracy of Ministerial statements and that there is an interest in particular in the clarification made at The National Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Strategic Group meeting on 8 October. The reasons for upholding the original decisions are that some of this information include content that has been reviewed as in scope but may contain personal opinions or summarised notes that may be used to formulate policy decisions, but are not final decisions or factual information. Accordingly, in relation to the information withheld under 29(1)(a), I have found that the public interest in withholding information that relates to the formulation of policy, to allow Ministers and officials a private space to develop that policy and consider all options outweighs those factors in favour of disclosure.

In relation to the information withheld under section 30(b)(i), the exemption at section 30(b)(i) applies to the information withheld under that exemption 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 before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view. Disclosing the content of free and frank advice on the design will substantially inhibit the provision of such advice in the future, particularly because these discussions are still ongoing and decisions have not been taken, and these discussions relate to a sensitive or controversial issue such as workforce planning and co-ordination.

I have gone on to reconsider the public interest test in relation to all of the information that remains withheld under the exemption. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, I have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. I recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. I further recognise the significant public interest in the particular topic at hand. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s position on the quality of data held in Scotland regarding some aspects of Child Protection, until the Government as a whole can adopt a policy that is sound and likely to be effective. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

Other issues raised in your review request
You have stated that the withheld documents include material relevant to the clarification made at the CSAE meeting of 8 October, which was subsequently escalated to Ministers and that this goes directly to the question of whether Parliament was accurately informed.
You also go on to say that where accuracy of Ministerial statements is in question, the Scottish Information Commissioner has repeatedly found that the public interest strongly favours disclosure.

I have considered this point above in my reconsideration of the public interest test. Within the initial response of 25 November, you were provided with content you asked for in relation to this group with much of it being available on their webpage, a link to which was shared with you. I have set out where we omitted to share a document as part of our initial response and where I have reapplied the public interest test and released content in favour of release that was previously withheld.

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 202500495559 - Information Released - Annex

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