EIR/202400434083 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Grangemouth oil refinery communications: EIR release
Information requested
Any discussions by Scottish Government officials and/or Ministers regarding a potential bidder for the Grangemouth oil refinery since (and including) 12 September 2024 (this should include, but not be limited to emails, whatsapps, texts, notes and minutes). Any conversations mentioning the MSP Michelle Thomson which are related to the Grangemouth refinery since (and including) 12 September 2024 (this should include, but not be limited to emails, whatsapps, texts, notes and minutes).
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.
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 exceptions under regulations 11(2) (third party personal data); 10(5)(e) (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial or industrial information), 10(4)(e) (Internal Communications) and 10(5)(a) (International relations, defence, national security, or public safety) the EIRs apply to some of the information enclosed in the minute I am releasing as part of this request. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in Annex A 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.