FOI/202600514556 · FOI · partially withheld
Materials relating to UK Supreme Court Judgment Working Group: FOI release
Information requested
Minutes of meetings of the Working Group on the Scottish Government's response to the Supreme Court judgment in FWS Vs The Scottish Ministers from 14/03/26-13/04/26 inclusive. Copies of all reports, consultations, discussion papers, briefings, presentations, and other papers produced by or for the WG, or received by the WG from other parties. Please include correspondence to and from the Working Group, as well as any other documents associated with the work of the Group.
Response
In relation to the UK Supreme Court Judgment Working Group, I have applied the date range of 14 March 2026 and the 13 April 2026 to your request. There has been one meeting within the requested date range which occurred on 26 March 2026.
The meeting minutes from 26 March will also be published within 12 weeks of your request here: UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): working group - gov.scot. Therefore, an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies.
I have enclosed therefore the agenda and chairs brief for the meetings on 26 March 2026. Please note 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. An exemption of section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) also applies to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.
In relation to your request for copies of all reports, consultations, discussion papers, briefings, presentations, and other papers produced by or for the WG, or received by the WG from other parties, I can confirm that as noted in the attached Chair’s brief, the Terms of Reference for the Working Group are now publicly available and can be found here: UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers) working group: terms of reference - gov.scot.
Exemption Explanations
Exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to information you have requested is because this information is intended to be published within 12 weeks of the date of your request. The Scottish Government intends to publish the Minutes of each of the Working Group’s meetings to maintain transparency. As this information will be published within the 12 weeks of the date of your request, we consider it reasonable to withhold the information rather than release the information requested before it has been published.
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 releasing the information requested to be transparent. However, given that the information requested will be subject to release within the appropriate timeframe we do not consider that the public interest in releasing the information immediately outweighs the public interest in the administrative process running its course.
Exemption section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to other officials before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view. Disclosing the content of free and frank advice will substantially inhibit the provision of such advice in the future, particularly because these discussions relate to a sensitive or controversial issue such as the UK Supreme Court Judgment Working Group.
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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to other officials, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s position on matters relating to the UK Supreme Court Judgment Working Group. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision-making processes, which would not be in the public interest.
Exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names, 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
Therefore, an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies. Please note 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. An exemption of section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) also applies to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. Exemption Explanations Exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to information you have requested is because this information is intended to be published within 12 weeks of the date of your request. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’.