EIR/202600516868 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Salmon Interactions Working Group correspondence: EIR Review
Information requested
Original request 202600513847
Copies of any correspondence with stakeholders on the Salmon Interactions Working Group between 1st July 2018 to 30 June 2020.
Your request for EIR review (202600516868)
I asked for “copies of any correspondence with stakeholders on the Salmon Interactions Working Group between 1st July 2018 to 30 June 2020.” The information provided in response covers October 2018 to February 2019. It seems odd that no information at all since February 2019 has been released, considering that the working group met in May, September and November 2019 and the group reported in May 2020.
So could you please review the information you hold to check that you haven’t missed any that should also be released?
Response
As part of my response to your review request I have identified further materials that would be within the scope of both your original request and subsequent review which were not identified as part of the searches undertaken for your original request. Please accept my apologies for our failure to provide these alongside the materials already released as part of the response to your original request and the late reply for this review response, we have recently experienced an increase in information requests being submitted which has led to the delay in our response in this instance. We have now deployed additional resources in response to ensure that requests will be responded to within the normal 20 working day timeframe.
I have included copies of the above noted additional materials covering the period of February 2019 to April 2020 within the attached Annexes (B & C).
You will note that some information has been redacted from that supplied to you. This is because an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party (names of junior officials and third parties) and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception 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 exception.
Your request covers copies of the minutes that were circulated between attendees of the meetings of the group. Minutes of meetings for the Salmon Interactions Working Group up to November 2019 have been published online via: National Records of Scotland - Salmon Interactions Working Group Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed above, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
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
This is because an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party (names of junior officials and third parties) and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.