FOI/202500461262 · FOI · partially withheld
Correspondence from the Scottish Government relating to Scottish Independence: FOI release
Information requested
1. Could you supply all correspondence and minutes/notes from meetings between the Scottish Government and UK Government about Scottish independence from the last three months, and also any briefings about this?
2. Could you supply all documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internally), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about the Northern Irish border poll and Scottish independence, from the last three months?
3. Could you supply all documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internally), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings, analysis, about a Scottish independence referendum, from the last three months?
Response
1. After conducting searches of our records, we have not identified any correspondence or meetings between the Scottish Government and UK Government on the topic of Scottish independence between 8 January 2025 and 8 April 2025. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
2. After conducting searches of our records, we have not identified any documents created between 8 January 2025 and 8 April 2025, jointly discussing the topics of a Northern Irish border poll and Scottish independence. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
3. The information you have requested is enclosed with this letter, and in the Annex of this letter. An exemption under section S.38(i)(b) of FOISA (Personal Information) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is the personal data of a third party, 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.
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 a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under S.17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. An exemption under section S.38(i)(b) of FOISA (Personal Information) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is the personal data of a third party, 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.