Food Safety Officer's Report from inspection at Sofia's Corstorphine: EIR release

Information requested

A copy of the Food Safety Officer's Report from inspection at Sofia's Corstorphine, 44 St John's Rd, EH12 6PA on the 7th Sept 2022.

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.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are because under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because Food Safety inspections in Scotland are responsibility of the Local Authorities. 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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Food Safety inspections reports clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

However, you may wish to contact via email, website, phone or post The City of Edinburgh Council who may be able to help you. Contact details are:

Council Headquarters, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ
Email: informationrights@edinburgh.gov.uk
Phone: 0131 200 2340
You can also raise your request at this website:
Freedom of Information FOI – The City of Edinburgh Council

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.