FOI requests from 2016: communications with Royal Household: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01577
Date received: 6 June 2018
Date responded: 5 July 2018

Information requested

You asked for all communication between the Scottish Government and the Royal Household (including their representatives) discussing FOI requests received by the Scottish Government related to the Royal household / Royal family. The timeframe for this request is 01/01/2016 - present.

You clarified on 7 June 2018 that you were specifically interested in material to do with the Prince of Wales.

Response

I have enclosed most of the information you have requested as a separate document to this letter.

No documents have been held in their entirety and whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections s.38(1)(a) (personal information), s.38(1)(b) (personal information) and 41(a) (communications with Her Majesty, etc.) of FOISA apply to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Reasons for not providing information

An exemption under section 38(1)(a) of FOISA (personal information) has been applied to your name and contact details because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA 2018). This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b)(personal information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies because the information is personal data of a third party, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA 2018). This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption applies, subject to the public interest test An exemption under section 41(a) of FOISA (communications with Her Majesty, the Royal Family or the Royal Household) applies to some of the information requested because it relates to communications with the Royal Household.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the greater public interest in protecting a channel of communication between the Scottish Government, and the Royal Household. Disclosing the content of such communications, particularly against the wishes of the Royal Household, is likely to mean that such future communications will be less open and less frequent, with less exchange of information on matters of mutual interest, which would not be in the public interest.

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-18-01577 - RH correspondence.pdf

File type

31 page PDF

File size

317.5 kB