FOI/202600507770 · FOI · cost limit
Communications from Scottish Ministers or Special Advisers regarding the next Parliamentary session: FOI release
Information requested
All emails and WhatsApp messages sent by either Special Advisers or Scottish Ministers in the last 3 months that contain any of the following phrases:
- "after the election" - "post-election" - "after May" - "the next Parliament" - "the next session of Parliament" - "the next Parliamentary session"
Response
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, the costs of retrieving and providing every piece of information currently held by the Scottish Government which contains the terms you have requested, would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.
Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
Advice and assistance
To help you understand the terms of our response, I can advise that there are more than 1,100 items held across the 27 Ministers and Special Advisers’ mailboxes due to the terms being regularly used in email communications.
You may, however, wish to consider focusing on one particular area of the Scottish Government that we focus our search on, in order that the costs can be brought below £600. The terms in which you asked us to search with include very generic wording that is used in many emails sent and received.
You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx
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.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.
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