FOI/202600516048 Review of 202600510968 · FOI · partially withheld
Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment for SP Bill 77 information: FOI Review
Information requested
Original request 202600510968
all drafts of the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment for SP Bill 77 the names of any children’s organisations consulted during its preparation where children or young people were directly consulted, a description of the categories or groups consulted, without personal data any internal communications about the decision whether or not to directly consult children or young people, given the obligations created by the UNCRC Incorporation legislation in Scotland.
Response
I have now completed a review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act (FOISA) 2002 for:
All drafts of the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment for SP Bill 77. The names of any children’s organisations consulted during its preparation. Where children or young people were directly consulted, a description of the categories or groups consulted, without personal data. Any internal communications about the decision whether or not to directly consult children or young people, given the obligations created by the UNCRC Incorporation legislation in Scotland.
In carrying out the review, I have considered whether your request was interpreted fairly, whether searches were carried out correctly and whether exemptions were properly applied.
Our original response applied an exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs) to drafts of the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) on the basis that disclosure would be likely to undermine the freedom of the government to work on the development of policy.
I have reviewed this decision and concluded that, for five key drafts which capture how the CRWIA substantially evolved each time someone within the Scottish Government reviewed it and requested changes, we found in favour of upholding the exemption under Section 30(c) when applying the ‘public interest test’, when in fact the public interest lay in disclosure. Therefore these drafts were not released to you when they should have been, for which I apologise.
I have reapplied the ‘public interest test’ and found in favour of disclosure in the interest of openness and transparency, on the basis that these drafts would assist public understanding of how the CRWIA was developed. I am now releasing them to you.
I have concluded that the exemption under Section 30(c) continues to apply to the some of the drafts of the CRWIA, on the basis that disclosure would be likely to undermine the freedom of the government to work on the development of policy. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. I have reconfirmed that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.
An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs) also applies to a small amount of information in three of the drafts (Documents 1, 2 and 3), as disclosure would be likely to undermine the freedom of the government to work on the development of policy. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.
I have also concluded that an exemption under Section 36(1) (confidentiality of communications) applies to three further drafts that contain legal advice. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.
Within the five drafts I am now releasing as part of this response, an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of information in two documents (Documents 1 and 2).
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.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
In carrying out the review, I have considered whether your request was interpreted fairly, whether searches were carried out correctly and whether exemptions were properly applied. Our original response applied an exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs) to drafts of the Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) on the basis that disclosure would be likely to undermine the freedom of the government to work on the development of policy. I have reviewed this decision and concluded that, for five key drafts which capture how the CRWIA substantially evolved each time someone within the Scottish Government reviewed it and requested changes, we found in favour of upholding the exemption under Section 30(c) when applying the ‘public interest test’, when in fact the public interest lay in disclosure. I have concluded that the exemption under Section 30(c) continues to apply to the some of the drafts of the CRWIA, on the basis that disclosure would be likely to undermine the freedom of the government to work on the development of policy. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'.