Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity meeting with Circularity Scotland Ltd individuals on April 13 and 18: EIR Review

Information requested

Original request - 202300369454

1. “All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting with Circularity Scotland Ltd individuals on April 13 and 18.”
2. “All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting with the IMG for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on April 17, 2023.”
3. “All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting on the Deposit Return Scheme on April 20, 2023.”

Response

Further to my letter of 27 September 2023, I have now completed our review of our response to your request under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) for:

1. ‘All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting with Circularity Scotland Ltd individuals on April 13 and 18.
2. All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting with the IMG for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on April 17, 2023.
3. All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Government including attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers, attendee lists, location of meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to Lorna Slater's meeting on the Deposit Return Scheme on April 20, 2023.’

Review outcome

Question 1

I have reviewed our initial response and I have concluded that our original decision should be confirmed, with some modifications.

In particular the application of exceptions against withheld information under:

• Regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion, unfinished document or incomplete data)
• Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications)
• Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests)
• Regulation 11(2) – Personal Data

After reconsidering the documents and the application of the exceptions, I have concluded that some of these exceptions have been applied to information incorrectly.

Where exceptions have been applied under:

• Regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion, unfinished document or incomplete data)
• Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests)

This information should have been withheld under Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications).

Additionally, some information withheld under Regulation 11(2) – Personal Data, has been withheld incorrectly, as some of the names redacted are already publicly available and therefore should be released.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I have provided you with an updated version of your requested information, taken into consideration the above decisions in Annex B. I have also provided an updated version of the relevant exceptions and the subsequent public interest tests in Annex A.

Question 2

I have reviewed our initial response and I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with some modifications.

As with our response to Question 1. where exceptions have been applied under:

• Regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion, unfinished document or incomplete data)
• Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests)

This information should have been withheld under Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications).

Additionally, an additional exception should have been applied to the information that we supplied to you which is already publicly accessible. This applies to the minutes for the 17 April 2023 Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) meeting referred to in your second question which can be found here.

Under Regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I have provided you with an updated version of your requested information, taken into consideration the above decisions in Annex C. I have also provided an updated version of the relevant exceptions and the subsequent public interest tests in Annex A.

Question 3

I have reviewed our initial response and I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with some modifications.

As with our response to Question 1. and Question 2, where exceptions have been applied under:

• Regulation 10(4)(d) (material in the course of completion, unfinished document or incomplete data)
• Regulation 10(5)(f) (third party interests)

This information should have been withheld under Regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications).

Additionally, some information withheld under Regulation 11(2) – Personal Data, has been withheld incorrectly, as some of the names redacted are already publicly available and therefore should be released.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I have provided you with an updated version of your requested information, taken into consideration the above decisions in Annex D. I have also provided an updated version of the relevant exceptions and the subsequent public interest tests in Annex A.

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 - 202300378190 - Information released - Annex A - Annex G

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62 page PDF

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510.9 kB