FOI/202600521854 · FOI · already published
UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers) Working Group meeting agenda and briefings: 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 14/05/26-13/06/26 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 May 2026 and 13 June 2026 to your request. There was one meeting within the requested date range which occurred on 4 June 2026.
The meeting minutes from 4 June have now been published and can be found here: UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): working group - gov.scot. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you.
I have enclosed therefore the agenda and chairs brief for the meetings on 4 June 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.
Exemption Explanations
Exemption under section 25(1) of FOISA (information otherwise accessible) applies to some of the information requested because it is already accessible through material published online. Under section 25(1), public authorities are not required to provide information that is otherwise accessible to the requester. 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 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 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.
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
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 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 25(1) of FOISA (information otherwise accessible) applies to some of the information requested because it is already accessible through material published online. Under section 25(1), public authorities are not required to provide information that is otherwise accessible to the requester.