EIR/202400405570 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands trip to Chilean salmon producer Lago Sofia: EIR release
Information requested
Please provide all internal and external correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government relating to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands' trip to Chilean salmon producer Lago Sofia: https://twitter.com/ScotGovMarine/status/1770468041622450219
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 a copy of most 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 exceptions under Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party - and Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications - of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to 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 http://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. 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 Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party - and Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications - of the EIRs applies to that information.