FOI/202400431748 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Meetings between Scottish Government Ministers and Petroineos, PetroChina and INEOS: EIR release
Information requested
1. A list of all meetings between Scottish Government Ministers and Petroineos, PetroChina and INEOS between 28th March 2024 and 12th September 2024 - information prior to 28th March has already been published as request FOI/202400409653
2. A full list of attendees and minutes or discussion points at these meetings.
3. Any correspondence relating to the scheduling of these meetings, and the choices around who to invite.
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
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); and 10(5)(a) (substantial prejudice to international relations, defence, national security or public safety) of 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.