Scottish government and Local Government Strategic Steering Group on Circular Economy and Waste: EIR release

Information requested

1. What was the date of formation of the Joint Scottish government and Local Government Strategic Steering Group on Circular Economy and Waste?
2. Who is a member of this group?
3. What is the cost to the Scottish Government of operating this group from the date of formation to 4/10/23?
4. Are any members of this group renumerated, if so what for?

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.

1. The group’s first meeting was held on 30 January 2020.
 

2. The group is jointly chaired by the Scottish Government and SOLACE and includes representatives from Local Authorities. I have provided further details of current membership below for your convenience:

• Katriona Carmichal, Deputy Director, Circular Economy, Scottish Government
• Rhona Gunn, Depute Chief Executive, Moray Council (SOLACE)
• Kirsty Flanagan, Argyll & Bute Council
• David Mackay, North Ayrshire Council
• Pam Walker, Aberdeen City Council
• David Macleod, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
• Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland
• Officials from COSLA, SG Environment & Forestry Directorate and Zero Waste Scotland (attendance varies between meetings)

3. The cost to the Scottish Government to date for the operation of this group is £210.60.

4. No remuneration is provided to the members of the the Scottish Government and Local Government Strategic Steering Group on Circular Economy and Waste as part of their role in the group.

It may help if I explain that the Scottish Government does not provide any remuneration to external members of the Strategic Steering Group. Additionally, the Scottish Government does not remunerate staff members in any way for participation in the group over and above standard staff salaries.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Under regulation 5(1) of the EIRs, a Scottish public authority that holds environmental information must make it available when requested to do so. This duty is not absolute. In some cases, information is excepted from disclosure, under regulations 10 and 11 of the EIRs. However, all of the exceptions in regulation 10 (and parts of regulation 11) are subject to a public interest test. To clarify, even though we do not hold the information, because we are using EIRs Exception 10(4)(a) in response to your request, we are required to apply a public interest test.

Guidance can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

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.