· FOI · partially withheld
Freedom of Information Act and Scottish Government Ministers: FOI release
Information requested
You asked for civil servant briefings and correspondence (emails, typed or handwritten notes, letters, phone calls, minutes of meetings or otherwise) on the FOI Act to Scottish Government Ministers and special advisers in December 2017, January 2018 and February 2018 to date.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information held within the scope of your request.
This information is provided in the form of extracts because the remaining information within the documents would fall out with the scope of your request.
In addition, an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is the personal data of a third party, for instance the names and contact details of Scottish Government employees, and disclosing it would contravene one of the data protection principles in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998. 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.
Detected exemption language
In addition, an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is the personal data of a third party, for instance the names and contact details of Scottish Government employees, and disclosing it would contravene one of the data protection principles in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998. 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.