FOI/202000054122 · FOI · partially withheld
Beer garden reopening complaints: FOI release
Information requested
Case Reference: 202000054122
How many items of external correspondence have been received by Ministers in the Scottish Government from 19 June (inclusive) to date that include complaints about the failure to reopen beer gardens and similar outdoor spaces on 19 June as proposed. Please provide copies of this external correspondence.
Case Reference: 202000054142
How many items of external correspondence have been received by Nicola Sturgeon from 19 June (inclusive) to date that include complaints about the failure to reopen beer gardens and similar outdoor spaces on 19 June as proposed. Please provide copies of this external correspondence.
Case Reference: 202000054148
How many items of external correspondence have been received by Fiona Hyslop from 19 June (inclusive) to date that include complaints about the failure to reopen beer gardens and similar outdoor spaces on 19 June as proposed. Please provide copies of this external correspondence.
Response
I will answer all 3 cases in this one reply. The attached Annex sets out the information you have requested. We have identified 2 pieces of correspondence which fall within the scope of your request. However, due to the way in which correspondence is categorised on receipt, it is possible that other correspondence received mentions the issue in question but not as the primary focus of the letter, in which case that correspondence would not be recorded with that issue as an identifying criterion. To extrapolate the information from our records would require individual interrogation of all correspondence received in the period. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, 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.
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Detected exemption language
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, 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.