Scottish Government communications regarding Water Bill: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

Any internal Scottish Government communications (including emails / letters) concerning a 'Water Bill'.

Any Scottish Government briefings produced on the subject of a 'Water Bill', and the minutes of any meetings in which this subject was discussed.

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.

As background to answering your request, the Scottish Government's Water Industry Division has been carrying out a review of legislation and policy related to the water sector following a commitment in programme for Government 2023. This has included the areas of Water Resources Planning, Drinking Water, Wastewater and Drainage, and modernisation of the existing legislation relating to the Water Industry and water and wastewater services.

A public consultation on policy principles was undertaken from November 2023 to February 2024, (Water, wastewater and drainage policy: consultation - gov.scot). The consultation analysis report was published in July 2024: Water, wastewater and drainage: consultation analysis - gov.scot

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

Some of the information you have requested was provided in our prior responses to you under case references 202400441672 and 202500469446. 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. 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.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to all of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(4)(e) allows authorities to refuse to disclose internal communications, and applies to all materials considered as internal communications. 

However, this exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception for some of the information requested. We recognise that there is public interest in release in order to support the openness, transparency and accountability of government, and that this is an area of public and media attention. Nevertheless, we have found that the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining effective policy and legislative development processes, including allowing Ministers and officials the space to assess options, consider risks and develop proposals before decisions are taken.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) also applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal legal advice and disclosure would breach legal professional privilege.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients, to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(4)(d) allows authorities to refuse to disclose material which is still in the
course of completion, unfinished documents and incomplete data.

This exception is also 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is public interest in release in order to support the openness, transparency and accountability of government, and that this is an area of public and media attention. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.

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 -202600520218 - Information released - Attachment

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