First Minister communications regarding MyCare.scot and the digital front door of the Scottish NHS: FOI release

Information requested

Under FOI legislation please provide me with all communication from John Swinney about MyCare.scot and/ or the digital front door of the Scottish NHS between January 1 2026 and June 12 2026.

Response

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 exemptions under section 29(1)(d) (operation of any Ministerial private office) and 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA apply to that information.

Section 29(1)(d)

An exemption under section 29(1)(d) of FOISA (operation of any Ministerial private office) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies to correspondence  between Policy Officials and Private Office concerning early operational discussions around registrations’ matters.

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. Having done so, we have concluded that the balance favours maintaining the exemption. The withheld information relates to routine internal operational handling rather than substantive policy decisions, and disclosing would undermine the ability to conduct day-today business effectively.

Section 38(1)(b)

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names of individuals, 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 exemption 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 exemption.

Whilst your request sought information from John Swinney about MyCare.scot, in the interest of helpfulness and transparency we have provided the full correspondence chain.

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 202600522446 - Information released - Annex

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