FOI/202000099767 · FOI · partially withheld
Minister for Europe and International Development’s ministerial preferences: FOI release
Information requested
Please provide all documentation regarding Ministerial preferences detailing how the current Scottish Ministers prefer their briefings, speeches and correspondence to be prepared and handled.
Response
The majority of the information you have requested has already been published by the Scottish Government. This is a formal notice under Section 25 (1). Please see the following link to access this information - https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-03298/.
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 because there is public interest in ministerial preferences. However, there is a greater public interest in the proper use of public resources. Since providing this information would be a duplication of work, it would therefore not be in the public interest to include it. Please note, changes to Ministerial titles does not mean Ministerial preferences have changed.
Enclosed within annex A is the relevant information which was not previously published, the Minister for Europe and International Development’s ministerial preferences.
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
This is a formal notice under Section 25 (1). 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.