Clearance of requests by Ministers or special advisers: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01941
Date received: 18 July 2018
Date responded: 30 July 2018

Information requested

1. Regarding all of my FOISA requests tabled to the SG since October 1st 2017, please provide all examples of clearance by Ministers/Ministerial offices, including emails and the content of attachments in emails.

2. Regarding all of my FOISA requests tabled to the SG since October 1st 2017, please provide all emails (and attachments in emails) by special advisers in relation to my requests, prior to a response being issued.

3. Regarding all of my FOISA requests tabled to the SG since October 1st 2017, please provide copies of all draft decisions in relation to the responses.

Response

I attach some of the information that is within the scope of your request.

Please note that FOISA provides a right to obtain information not to obtain copies of specific documents. This means that we do not need to provide you with a draft document if it does not differ from the final form which has already been issued to you as part of a previous information release.

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 exemptions under sections s.38(1)(a) (personal data relating to the applicant) and s.38(1)(b) (personal data relating to a third party) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Reasons for not providing information

Exemptions apply.

An exemption under section 38(1)(a) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 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) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e names and contact details, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 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.

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-18-01941 - related documents.pdf

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13 page PDF

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