Publication - FOI/EIR release

Meetings with representatives of the gambling industry: FOI release

Published: 11 December 2023
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300356395
Date received: 12 May 2023
Date responded: 9 June 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

How many meetings have Scottish Government Ministers and Officials had with representatives of the gambling industry since a) Humza Yousaf became First Minister b) 1 January 2023?
The minutes of all those aforementioned meetings, including a full list of participants.
All correspondence relating to those meetings, before and after.

Response

A copy of most of the information you requested is attached.

The answer to part (a) your question is zero and to part (b) is that one meeting has taken place.

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 an exemption(s) under section s.29(1)(a) (policy formulation), s.38(1)(b) (personal information) and s.33(1)(b) (commercial interests) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Annex
An exemption applies
Exemptions under section s.38(1)(b) (personal information), s29(1)(a) (policy formulation) and s33(1)(b) (commercial interest) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested.

S38(1)(b) covers personal information of third parties. 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.

S29(1)(a) exempts information from disclosure if it relates to the formulation or development of government policy.

This exemptions is subject to the ‘public interest test’, however this is a "class based" exemption. This means that the exemption will apply if the information falls within a particular class of information (e.g. Ministerial communications). Unlike most of the exemptions, the authority does not have to demonstrate that disclosure of the information would cause harm before applying the exemption.

S33(1)(b) states information may be withheld if disclosure would (or would be likely to) prejudice substantially the economic interests of any person or organisation.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release in the interests of an open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in applying the exemption to commercially sensitive information which doesn’t relate to government business.

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.