FOI/202600501938 · FOI · partially withheld
Meetings with Working Group on the Supreme Court judgement in FWS Vs. Scottish Ministers: FOI release
Information requested
1. Copies of all minutes from meetings of the (Short Life) Working Group on the Scottish Government's response to the Supreme Court judgment in FWS Vs. Scottish Ministers since 8/12/25.
2. Copies of all agendas, briefings, discussion papers, consultation documents, presentations etc. discussed at these meetings, sent out by the WG, and received by the WG.
Response
In relation to the Working Group on the Supreme Court judgment in FWS Vs. Scottish Ministers, I am using the date range of the 8 December 2025 and the date of this request (16 January 2026). There has only been one Working Group meeting in the requested date range which occurred on the 15 January 2026.
1. The meeting notes for this meeting are still to be finalised and will be published online here - UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): working group - gov.scot within 12 weeks of this request. Therefore an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to the above information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request.
1. In relation to your request for copies of all agendas, briefings, discussion papers, consultation documents, presentations etc. discussed at these meetings I can confirm that there were no papers, presentations or additional documents. I have enclosed therefore the agenda and chairs brief for this meeting only. Please note an 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 and exemption Section 29(1)(c) (Law Officers’ advice) has been used where Information relates to the provision of advice by any of the Law Officers.
Exemption Explanations
Exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to information you have requested is because this information is intend 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 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.
Exemption Section 36(1)) (Claim to confidentiality of communications) has been used where Information relates to the provision of advice by the Scottish Government Legal Directorate or any request for the provision of advice by the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.
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
Therefore an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to the above information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. Please note an 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 and exemption Section 29(1)(c) (Law Officers’ advice) has been used where Information relates to the provision of advice by any of the Law Officers. Exemption Explanations Exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to information you have requested is because this information is intend to be published within 12 weeks of the date of your request. 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.