Meeting between the Prince of Wales and the First Minister: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Information requested
You asked a number of questions relating to a meeting which took place between the Prince of Wales and the First Minister, the Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on 23 June 2015.
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
I have addressed each of your questions in numerical order as set out in your request.
Request 1. I can confirm that HRH The Duke of Rothesay and the First Minister both met on 23 June 2015. We hold no information about any other individuals who may have been present.
Request 2. The Scottish Government no longer retains a copy of the First Minister’s diary for 23 June 2015. However, some of the information you have requested is available within the information about Ministerial engagements that is proactively published by the Scottish Government. Information about Ministerial engagements from June 2015 is available at the following link: 00488234.pdf (webarchive.org.uk). 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 website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. For ease we have highlighted the diary extract for the First Minister for 23 June 2015 in doc 1 attached to the covering email.
3. I have enclosed some of the information you have requested, please see docs 2 attached to the covering email. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.
In relation to requests 4, 5 and 6 in your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, following searches of our records I can advise you that in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4) (a) of the EIRs.
While the exception under regulation 10(4) (a) is subject to the ‘public interest test’ clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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