Scotland’s share of Europe’s potential offshore wind resource: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request - 202200325962
All internal Scottish Government discussion (including between Ministers, Civil Servants, and Special Advisers) relating to the question of Scotland’s share of Europe’s potential offshore wind resource, restricting the search to dates between 6th May 2021 and 20th October 2022. You also indicated how to narrow down your request: “If this proves to be too wide a request, please narrow down to all discussion of whether an estimate for this figure should be included in Building a New Scotland - A stronger economy with independence – published by the Scottish Government on 17th October 2022.”

Review request - 202300336651
“Please review the above referenced FOI response on the basis that it includes entirely unjustifiable redactions. The response to a follow up FOI (reference: 202200333406) has revealed that the name underneath the redaction highlighted below is cabinet minister Michael Matheson. There is no possible justification for the original redaction of his name. Please re-issue this FOI response with *all* unjustifiable redactions removed’’.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

“Please review the above referenced FOI response on the basis that it includes entirely unjustifiable redactions. The response to a follow up FOI (reference: 202200333406) has revealed that the name underneath the redaction highlighted below is cabinet minister Michael Matheson. There is no possible justification for the original redaction of his name. Please re-issue this FOI response with *all* unjustifiable redactions removed’’.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

In arriving at this conclusion I have considered the two exceptions applied in our original response, the justifications for both and any public interest requirements in upholding them.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) was applied to some of the information released as part of the original FOI because it is personal data of a third party 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 review of this exemption found that some names included in the information originally released were mistakenly redacted and have now been released as part of this review: that of the Cabinet Secretary Michael Matheson, Special Advisor Ewan Crawford and senior civil servant Brian Dornan. Other names withheld were those of junior officials and I have concluded that these names were appropriately withheld under regulation 11(2). This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so I was not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

A further exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) was applied to some of information because it is internal communication between civil servants.

Having reviewed the information withheld under the exception I am satisfied that the exception was applied appropriately. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. While there may be a public interest in releasing this information, and having taken account of 10(2)(b), I have concluded that the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the public interest in making it available. As internal communications relating to an early stage of policy development, releasing this information would negatively impact on the free and confidential exchange of information and advice between officials and ministers to the detriment of Scottish Government public policy. Considering this, on balance the public interest lays in withholding this information.

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 202300336651 - Information Released - Annex

File type

12 page PDF

File size

245.3 kB