Sea Lice Risk Framework: EIR Review

Information requested

“All instructions / commissioning / actions / directives made by Scottish Government to SEPA in respect to the Sea Lice Risk Framework, including (but not limited to):

• Those relating to the initial scoping and development of the framework, prior to public consultation.
• Those relating to the consultation process, its timing, scope, the publication of outcomes and the handling of the consultation and its outcomes.
• Those relating to the further development and delivery of the framework made either before, during or after the consultation.
• From May 2021‐present.”

Response

Further to my letter of 6th September 2022, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

“All instructions / commissioning / actions / directives made by Scottish Government to SEPA in respect to the Sea Lice Risk Framework, including (but not limited to):

• Those relating to the initial scoping and development of the framework, prior to public consultation.
• Those relating to the consultation process, its timing, scope, the publication of outcomes and the handling of the consultation and its outcomes.
• Those relating to the further development and delivery of the framework made either before, during or after the consultation.
• From May 2021‐present.”

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

Review of case and decision

1. I found that an exception under Regulation 10(4)(d) had been incorrectly applied to the information requested. These documents are now released and listed in the accompanying Annex. I apologise for the incorrect application of exception 10(4)(d).

2. I found that an exception under Regulation 10(4)(e), Internal Communications, had been incorrectly applied to the information requested. My review did not identify any documents, that fall within the scope of the request, which have been withheld as a result of applying exception 10(4)(e). I apologise for the incorrect application of exception 10(4)(e).

3. An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception 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 exception.

In the case of the draft documents now released to you under this EIR review, an exception under regulation 11(2) has also been applied to the comments which are attributable. I have redacted the personal information (names) from the annotated comments to draft documents and these have been annotated with ‘A’ (author).

4. Where draft documents have been released that contain comments you are advised that these reflect views in relation to the draft being considered at that time. In addition, comments provided on draft documents may not have been incorporated into the final version of the document. If you require further information on the final documents you are advised to contact SEPA (https://www.sepa.org.uk/contact/).

5. Whilst draft documents have been released to you under this EIR review I would like to bring to your attention to the finalised documents, published by SEPA, which can be accessed as follows:

Proposals for a risk‐based framework for managing interaction between sea lice from marine finfish farm developments and wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland ‐ Scottish Environment Protection Agency ‐ Citizen Space (sepa.org.uk)

20220816 Official Sea Lice Regime consultation analysis.pdf (sepa.org.uk)

6. With the exception of the personal data redacted from the documents provided, I can confirm that this review response provides all of the information held by the Scottish Government which falls within the scope of your request. Further to the information provided above I would also like to apologise for the delay in responding to your request for review and the incorrect application of exceptions 10(4)(d) and 10(4)(e) in our original response to EIR request 202200310195 provided on 22 July 2022.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

ANNEX A

INDEX OF ENCLOSURES

No.	Description	Date	Explanation of redactions	Clause
1	Sea lice risk assessment framework	29/11/2021	Personal information	11(2)
2	TRWG Meeting – end of year	21/11/2021	Personal information	11(2)
3	SRAF – current draft	10/11/2021	Personal information	11(2)
3.1	Attachment to email		Personal information	11(2)
4	Consultation	30/09/2021	Personal information	11(2)
4.1	Attachment to email		Personal information	11(2)
5	Sea lice risk assessment	23/06/2022	Personal information	11(2)
6	Comments from SG SEPA – Wild Fish and Sea Lice Consultation Response – latest draft	22/07/2022	Personal information	11(2)
6.1	Attachment to email		Personal information	11(2)
7	Wild Fish and Sea Lice Consultation response	09/06/2022	Personal information	11(2)
7.1	Attachment to email		Personal information	11(2)

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above. If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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.