Correspondence regarding the meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Health Protection Scotland: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request: 202600504412

Provide a description of the information requested in the FOI/EIR

1. Please provide copies of all recorded documentation, including correspondence (Whatsapps, letters, emails and attachments etc), agendas, meeting minutes, briefing notes and internal notes regarding the meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Health had on 21 March 2018 with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Health Protection Scotland.

Please also include documentation and correspondence that occurred as a direct result of agreed actions at the meeting.

2. Where possible please also confirm who was in attendance at this meeting.

Response

Further to the letter of 11 March 2026, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for:

Copies of all recorded documentation, including correspondence (Whatsapps, letters, emails and attachments etc), agendas, meeting minutes, briefing notes and internal notes regarding the meeting the Cabinet Secretary for Health had on 21 March 2018 with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Health Protection Scotland. Please also include documentation and correspondence that occurred as a direct result of agreed actions at the meeting.

Where possible please also confirm who was in attendance at this meeting.

You subsequently submitted a request for review: “It is not completely clear from the response whether the government has a record of the agenda and minutes that were taken or briefings that were provided before or after the meeting. Can you confirm if these documents do exist and have been provided as part of the evidence to the Inquiry or if the government does not have a record of them.  

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

In relation to part one of your request, the information provided was details of those who were invited/anticipated to attend the meeting. However as this contains personal information of individuals it was redacted (under section 38(1)b). In the initial response the exemption was not fully documented and explained.

Some of the information you requested is already in the public domain as published via the links provided to you. This was not fully explained and the information was exempt from disclosure under section 25(1) of FoI(S)A. Secondly as part of my review I have established that the links do not direct you to that specific information, but a generic page from which you are required to search. I have expanded on this to ensure that you are able to now locate this information.

This is information that was provided to the then Cabinet Secretary in advance of the meeting on 21 March 2018 and was subsequently provided to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry (SHI). This information is available from Bundle 52 - Volume 2 | Hospitals Inquiry within Bundle 52, Volume 2, page 29 – 65. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

In relation to part two of your request, as no agenda or minutes were taken for this meeting we are unable to confirm those in attendance.

As such we are refusing this part of your request under section 17(1) of FoI(S)A – information not held. The initial response did not fully outline the exemptions that applied to your request. In addition, the response did not clearly advise that some of the information you had requested was not held by the Scottish Government and some was already within the public domain and therefore accessible for you to view.

Please accept my sincere apologies that our response to your initial request was unclear and incomplete and I trust that we have now clarified our response.

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.