FOI/202300376367 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Minister for Energy lobbying meetings: EIR release
Information requested
Please can you provide minutes and any correspondence relating to the below lobbying meetings involving the energy minister, Gillian Martin, most of which are recorded on the lobbying register:
A meeting with Ineos Chemicals Ltd on 8/06/2023 which involved a tour of the Grangemouth facility A meeting with Neccus on 26/04/2023 Another meeting with Neccus on 13/04/2023 Minutes of any discussions at a tour of the H100 project in Fife which was recorded in this article: https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/policy/scottish-energy-minister-advocates-for-hydrogen-heating-as-way-to-bypass-power-grid-congestion/2-1-1518356 .
The response should include minutes and any follow up correspondence between Ms Martin and any of the companies involved in the meetings.
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 of exceptions under Regulations 10(4)(a), 10(5)(e) and 11.
The information we could provide can be found 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 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.