EIR/202400442029 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Correspondence regarding drafting of written question asked in the Scottish Parliament: EIR release
Information requested
All internal Scottish Government correspondence, involving civil servants and/or special advisers, discussing the drafting of the written answer provided by Gillian Martin to the following written question asked in the Scottish Parliament:
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any impact on its energy policy and strategy, what its position is on the reported calls on the UK Government by Scottish Renewables and other trade bodies to rule out zonal pricing under the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA), and to instead commit to a Reformed National Market (RNM) programme.
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.
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
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 an exception under regulations 10(4)(e) (internal communications) and 11(2) (personal information) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why those exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.
ANNEX
An exception applies
Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(4)(e), internal communication, has been applied to some of the information requested.
This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception.
We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing the information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in allowing Scottish Government officials a private space to share free and frank advice and views in preparing answers to parliamentary questions.
It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly answer Parliamentary questions, provide sound information to Parliament (to which they are accountable), and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.
Regulation 11(2) – personal information
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 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 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.
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. ANNEX An exception applies Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exception under Regulation 10(4)(e), internal communication, has been applied to some of the information requested.