FOI/201900005377 · FOI · partially withheld
Scottish Government's childcare expansion correspondence: FOI release
Information requested
You asked for the contents of any emails or letters to Nicola Sturgeon (including emails to either the First Minister or SNP account) in 2019 from childcare providers/nurseries on the topic of the Scottish Government's childcare expansion.
Response
I enclose copies 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 exemptions under section s.38(1)(b) Personal information relating to a third party apply to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.
Annex - Reasons for not providing information An exemption applies
An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) (Personal information relating to a third party) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. “Personal data” is defined in section 3 of the DPA 2018 (and Article 4 of the GDPR) as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual, who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, identification number, location data or an online identifier, or, one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.
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 exemption applies, for example, to the names and addresses of third party individuals, where that information is not already freely available in the public domain.
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 exemptions under section s.38(1)(b) Personal information relating to a third party apply to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter. Annex - Reasons for not providing information An exemption applies An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) (Personal information relating to a third party) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. “Personal data” is defined in section 3 of the DPA 2018 (and Article 4 of the GDPR) as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual, who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, identification number, location data or an online identifier, or, one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual. 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.