Baby Box ear thermometer safety aspects: FOI release

Information requested

Copies of all correspondence involving Scottish Government ministers and/or officials in 2020 and 2021 in which there is discussion of the safety aspects relating to the provision of ear thermometers in the Baby Box, and a decision to replace them, providing under-arm thermometers instead.

Response

I attach a copy of relevant correspondence in Annex B of this letter. However, 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 exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why this exemption applies is explained in Annex A of this letter.

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION - Annex A

An exemption applies

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested as follows: This information relates to personal data relating to a third party and applied in the following cases:

• Scottish Government officials below the Senior Civil Service.
• Names of individuals who did not give permission for release.

It would not be the expectation of these individuals that their personal information would be released 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.

The only redactions to the correspondence supplied in the release are to the personal data mentioned above.

I am satisfied that the information that has been withheld constitutes the ‘personal data’ of the individuals concerned, as defined in section 1(1) of the DPA.

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 - 202100258087 - Information Released - Annex B

File type

53 page PDF

File size

1.8 MB