FOI/202600502396 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Information held by the Scottish Government in relation to Environmental Standards Scotlands investigation regarding excess incineration capacity in Scotland: EIR release
Information requested
My FOI request relates to an investigation carried out by Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS reference IESS.24.046) on the Scottish Government’s failure to prevent excess incineration capacity.
I would be grateful if you could send me all the information you hold relating to ESS’ investigation, including but not limited to:
Copies of all correspondence between the Scottish Government and ESS in respect of the investigation. Copies of all notes from meetings between the Scottish Government and ESS in respect of the investigation. Copies of all notes of telephone calls between the Scottish Government and ESS in respect of investigation.
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Request for copies of information held by the Scottish Government in relation to Environmental Standards Scotlands investigation regarding excess incineration capacity in Scotland (IESS.24.046)
I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex B (attached).
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in Annex A (attached).
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
Information requested My FOI request relates to an investigation carried out by Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS reference IESS.24.046) on the Scottish Government’s failure to prevent excess incineration capacity. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.