EIR/202400444903 · FOI/EIR · already published
Scottish Salmon Producers Association meetings: EIR release
Information requested
Correspondence received by or sent, minutes of meetings or calls held – between Salmon Scotland and (a) The First Minister, (b) The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and the Islands, (c) the Cabinet Secretary or Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, from 1 January to 12 December 2024.
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.
Response to your request
I enclose some of the information you requested at Annex A. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exception(s) under regulation(s) Exception 6(1)(b) – information already available, Exception 10(4)(a) – information not held, and Exception 11(2) – personal data of a third party.
Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website:
Salmon Scotland is a member of the Scottish Aquaculture Council, and minutes of its meetings are published at Scottish Aquaculture Council - gov.scot. The most recent meeting was held on 4 June 2024, and the minutes will be published when ratified by the Council. A previously released EIR response FOI/202400431333 concerns all meetings with Ministers and Salmon Scotland up to 11 September 2024, and includes minutes where available: Meetings with salmon farming industry: EIR release - gov.scot.
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(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies is explained in Annex B of this letter.
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. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.