Correspondence between Mr Russell and Scottish Green Party: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/02126
Date received: 20 September 2017
Date responded: 18 October 2017

Information requested

Any correspondence between Mr Russell and his staff and any members and staff of the Scottish Green Party's Scottish Parliamentary group along with any minutes taken at meetings between the two parties between 1st July and 20th September 2017.

Response

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 exemption(s) under section(s) s.30 of FOISA being a prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained below.

Reasons for not providing information

An exemption applies.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to some the information requested. It is essential for Ministers to be able to communicate, often in confidence, with external stakeholders on a range of issues, including the EU Withdrawal Bill. Disclosing the content of these communications, particularly without the consent of the stakeholder, is likely to undermine their trust in the Scottish Government and will substantially inhibit communications on this type of issue in the future. These stakeholders will be reluctant to participate in meetings and provide their views fully and frankly if they believe that their views are likely to be made public, particularly while these discussions are still on-going and as these discussions relate to a sensitive or controversial issue such as the EU Withdrawal Bill. This would significantly harm the Government's ability to carry out many aspects of its work, and could adversely affect its ability to gather all of the evidence it needs to make fully informed decisions.

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

FoI-17-02126 - related ministerial correspondence.pdf

File type

11 page PDF

File size

332.2 kB