· FOI · partially withheld
Communications between First Minister and Russian Government: FOI release
Information requested
A breakdown of all communications between the First Minster and the Russian Government since June 2016. All correspondence between the First Minister and the Russian Government since June 2016. All minutes and notes taken of telephone communications between the First Minister and the Russian Government since June 2016.
Response
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested relating to correspondence between the First Minister and the Russian Government. With regards to the reference of a meeting in the Russian Ambassador's letter, there was no pre-arranged one-to-one meeting. The First Minister and Russian Ambassador had an informal conversation in the margins of an event they both attended.
Minutes and notes of telephone communications
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.
Reasons for not providing information
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. We do not have the information because there are no records of any telephone communications between the First Minister and the Russian Government since June 2016 and therefore no minutes or notes of any such telephone communications are held. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have 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 a third party, i.e. names/contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to 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.
We can also confirm that there were no recorded meetings between Russian Officials and any other members of the Scottish Government over the period requested.
Detected exemption language
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have 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 a third party, i.e. 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.