202300345851 · FOI/EIR · withheld
Information and briefing notes provided to Lorna Slater relating to her statement to the Scottish Parliament on 1/3/2023: EIR release
Information requested
Please may I request a copy of the information and briefing notes provided to Lorna Slater relating to her statement to the Scottish Parliament on 1/3/2023.
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 we are unable to provide the information you have requested because exceptions under Regulation 10(4)(D) (Material in the course of completion, unfinished document, or incomplete data) and Regulation 10(4)(E) (Internal Communications) of the EIRs applies to the documents identified within scope of your request. The reasons for these exceptions have been outlined in Annex A.
However, I have included a link to the full statement provided by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Lorna Slater, to the Scottish Parliament on 1 March 2023 regarding the Deposit Return Scheme for your convenience:
Meeting of the Parliament: 01/03/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website
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.
Detected exemption language
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. Response While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because exceptions under Regulation 10(4)(D) (Material in the course of completion, unfinished document, or incomplete data) and Regulation 10(4)(E) (Internal Communications) of the EIRs applies to the documents identified within scope of your request.