Investor dinner Cannes March 2019, costs and representatives attending: FOI release

Information requested

 

You asked for the information below in relation to an Investor dinner held on the evening of Tuesday 12 March 2019 at the Hôtel Barrière Le Gray d'Albion in Cannes, specifically:

1. The total cost of the event, who paid for it and copies of the receipts or invoices itemising any expenditure. 

2. The names of the public sector representatives there, and their job titles and employer.

3. The names of the private sector representatives there, and their job titles and employer.

4. Any recorded media held by the Scottish Government in relation to this event. This may include ministerial briefing notes, mobile device messages, emails and follow-up correspondence.

5. The menu for the meal.

 

Response

 

I enclose a copy of most of the information you have 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 we do not hold it and some the information is exempt and section 38(1)(b) and 33(1)(b) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why we do not hold this information and why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex below.

The answer to your questions are as follows: 

1.          The total cost of the investor dinner was €5897.20 which is inclusive of local taxes. This dinner was hosted by Scottish Enterprise and sponsored by Austin Lord Smith who contributed £3,600 including VAT. A copy of the invoice is attached.
2.          Kevin Quinlan, Director for International Trade and Investment, Scottish Government and Steve Dunlop, Chief Executive Scottish Enterprise.
3.          A copy of the attached briefing details the private sector attendees. In addition, Tim Luckhurst, Executive Director First Abu Dhabi Bank also joined on the evening.
4.          See Annex.
5.          Menu attached.

 

ANNEX 

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because (i) no minutes were taken at the dinner (ii) there are no exchange of messages on the event held in any format except the one email which is attached. Once Scottish Government produce the formal briefing this becomes part of the official record. As the information is no longer required it is routinely destroyed in accordance with our standard records management practice. The attached email had not yet been deleted from our records at the time of your request. And, (iii) there has been no follow up correspondence from this dinner. 

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.  

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA also applies to some the information you have requested. The information requested is personal data of a third party and disclosing these details 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.

An exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. The disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of a person or organisation. 

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 because of our commitment to open and  transparent government.  However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing business to develop commercial relationships and exchange information where disclosure could have a detrimental effect on commercial interests.

 

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-19-01118 Information requested

File type

11 page PDF

File size

1.0 MB