Records of all calls and/or meetings between John Swinney and SQA: FOI review

Information requested

Applied exemptions under sections 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii).

Response

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications. I discuss the matters I have considered in relation to this review below.

Application of the Section 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) exemptions

You requested a reconsideration of the Section 30 (b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) exemptions. I reconsidered each application of this exemption including reconsidering the public interest test for each of these applications. I did not find that the exemption or the public interest test had been applied unreasonably, however I did identify areas where on consideration of the public interest test I found in favour of additional release.

In considering the public interest I balanced the need to protect the ability for officials of the Scottish Government and its agencies to discuss sensitive issues in a free and frank way against the public interest in respect of the important decisions these discussions informed. This was the same balance considered by the original case handlers. I have made a number of additional disclosures and new information released includes:

• additional text in enclosure 2 (bullets 5 and 7)
• PDF at enclosure 11
• all of the PDF at enclosure 13.2 apart from section 6 which remains redacted
• an additional paragraph (1) in enclosure 24.1
• additional information previously redacted in enclosure 25.

You also requested a reconsideration of areas that were redacted as not in scope of your request. I reconsidered each occasion where material was redacted for this reason. I did not find that redactions had been made unreasonably and have decided against any further release of material.

Identification of relevant material. I also considered the steps the original case handlers took to identify material to release. Reviewing their records and discussing with the team I concluded that the searches and other steps to find material undertaken by the original handlers were appropriate. However I have now included a missing page from the original enclosure 10.1 which was accidentally not included in the response to your original request.

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FOI - 202200305384 - Annex A

File type

20 page PDF

File size

1.0 MB