Ministerial Netherlands visit in February 2018: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01733
Date received: 19 June 2018
Date responded: 19 July 2018

Information requested

Information on who Ms Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs met in the Netherlands from 14 to 15 February.

Also on personal costs associated with the visit and for any staff who accompanied her; for correspondence on the trip and for the job titles of the staff that accompanied her.

Response

Information about Ministerial engagements (including overseas engagements) are published on the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. They can be found in first tab of each monthly spead sheet.

/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-march-2018/

Ministerial overseas visits are also published on the Scottish Government website. Details include all Ministerial costs associated with the visit. They can be found in the second tab of each monthly spread sheet:

/publications/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts-march-2018/

Job Title	Total Cost for Accompanying Officials
Cabinet Secretary for Culutre, Tourism and External Affairs	Accommodation: £121.81 Flight Travel: £179.92
Cost for supporting staff(2 people in total from Private Office and the European Engagement Divison)	Accommodation: £25778 Flight Travel: £347.37 Airport Parking: £34.99 Taxi Travel: £202.36 Meal Claims: £22.00 Foreign Travel Other: £20.08 Motor Millage Allowance: £4.50

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names and contact details, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998. 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 29(1)(a) of FOISA (formulation or development of government policy) applies to some of the information requested because it relates to the development of the Scottish Government's policy on bilateral engagement with European stakeholders.

An exemption under section 28(1) of FOISA (relations within the UK) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. It is essential for the effective administration of the UK as a whole that there should be regular, and often private, communications between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the other devolved administrations. The release of these communications about trade and investment engagements overseas will mean that the UK Government are likely to be more reluctant to share such information with the Scottish Government in future, which would reduce both the frequency and openness of communications between the Scottish Government and other UK administrations.

Please find attached all correspondence relating to the Minister's visit to the Netherlands attached in the PDF file in the email.

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-18-01733 Attachment.pdf

File type

22 page PDF

File size

555.1 kB