Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition July 23 engagements: EIR release

Information requested

1. A list of all of Mairi McAllan’s ministerial engagements on Orkney in July 2023.
2. Minutes of all of Mairi McAllan’s meetings and ministerial engagements on Orkney in July 2023.
3. During Mairi McAllan’s visit to Orkney in July 2023 did she meet with local councillors on a cruisier owned by the Orkney Fisheries Association?
4. If yes to question 3, why was the meeting conducted on this vessel, was in brought specifically for this engagement, and how much did it cost for the meeting to be arranged on the vessel?

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.

We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 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.

Response to your request

In response to your first question, I am providing a list of all of the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, Ms Mairi McAllan’s, ministerial engagements on Orkney in July 2023:

• The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, Ms Mairi McAllan attended a site  visit with Project Seagrass.
• The Cabinet Secretary then hosted a roundtable with Orkney Islands Council (OIC), Orkney Fish  Producers Organisation, Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RIFG), Orkney Fisheries Association (OFA), Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) and Cooke Aquaculture.

In response to your second question, I enclose a redacted copy of the draft meeting minutes taken at the roundtable the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition, Ms Mairi McAllan’s hosted on Orkney on 12 July 2023 – please see PDF attachment titled “001”.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reason why that exception applies is explained below. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because, given the nature of the site visit, no formal notes were taken.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about a site visit The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition had with Project Seagrass, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

I can also confirm, as per your third question, that the Cabinet Secretary did not meet with local councillors on a cruiser owned by the Orkney Fisheries Association.

Therefore, your fourth question is not applicable.

Further information provided to you out with the EIRs

Since your EIR request was received by us, the draft meeting notes we have provided to you as item 001 have been finalised/cleared by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition. This final version did not exist at the time the request was received and so was not in scope of your request.

I can confirm to you that the draft meetings notes were cleared without modification, however, we are also providing a copy of the finalised meeting notes to you, in the interest of being helpful - please see PDF attachment titled “002”. The only difference being that these are no longer marked as “draft.” Item 002 is provided to you out with the EIRs.

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 202300372653 - Information Released - 001

File type

4 page PDF

File size

798.2 kB

FOI 202300372653 - Information Released - 002

File type

4 page PDF

File size

79.7 kB