EIR/202600507525 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce and energy sector communications: EIR release
Information requested
Copies of all communications from 1 July 2024 to today between Gillian Martin and/or senior officials in her office (in her role as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy between July 2024 and June 2025 and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy since June 2025) and senior executives from the following organisations:
Shell Equinor Ithaca Energy Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) True North Advisors: https://truenorth.scot Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC)
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the Purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Copies of all communications from 1 July 2024 to today between Gillian Martin and/or senior officials in her office (in her role as Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy between July 2024 and June 2025 and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy since June 2025) and senior executives from the following organisations:
Shell Equinor Ithaca Energy Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) True North Advisors: https://truenorth.scot Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC)
I have included copies of the information you have requested in the attached Annex (B).
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, an exception has been applied in line with the EIRs. The exception applied can be found in the attached Annex (A).
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
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.