Meetings and minutes with Crofting Commission: EIR release

Information requested

1. The number of times that crofting was discussed at Cabinet between 29 March 2023 to date.

2. The number of times that Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Island had with the Crofting Commission since 29 March 2023.

3. In addition, the minutes of Mairi Gougeon’s meeting with the Crofting Commission since 29 March 2023.

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.

In response to the first part of your request, Cabinet minutes provide a full account of actions but are not a verbatim record. As such, it is not possible to determine with certainty the number of times a particular topic has been discussed at Cabinet. The Cabinet discusses matters of importance to rural Scotland on a regular basis.

I can also confirm that Ms Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, has not met the Crofting Commission since 29 March 2023.

The Minister for Energy and the Environment Gillian Martin (MSP) took over the responsibility of crofting in June 2023. The Minister met the Crofting Commission on 7 September 2023. She met the Convener and the CEO of Crofting Commission.

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.