202300360770 · FOI · partially withheld
Complaints against Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity between 30th August 2021 to 8th June 2023: FOI release
Information requested
Could you please provide the following information: All of the complains made against the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity between 30th August 2021 to 8th June 2023. To comply with Privacy Laws please ensure that these are anonymised.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.
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 under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies to some of the information you have requested.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of the names/contact details of third parties, 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 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.
Outwith FOISA, you may wish to be aware of the response that the then First Minister, Ms Sturgeon, sent to the letter received from Meghan Gallacher MSP. The former First Minister concludes that Ms Slater’s comments “were entirely consistent with Government policy and fully comply with her obligations as a Minister”, and that there had been no breach of the Ministerial Code. This letter is attached for your information.
In relation to the procedure for civil servants to raise a complaint about the behaviour of a Minister or former Minister, while our scope is to provide information, when possible, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you requested. Having conducted appropriate and proportionate searches for information regarding the complaints, the Scottish Government holds no recorded information within the scope of your request because no complaints about the Minister were made under the procedure for handling complaints by civil servants.
Outwith FOISA, you may wish to be aware that the Scottish Government now publishes the number of complaints received about a current or former Minister’s behaviour. The first publication covered the period from when the procedure was made live in February 2022 to December 2022, and an update was published on 21 June 2023. This information will be updated every six months. Scottish Government Ministers: complaints - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
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
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 under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies to some of the information you have requested. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of the names/contact details of third parties, 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 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. This is a formal notice under Section 17(1) FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you requested.