Plans to reduce MSP age and trade negotiations between the US and UK Government: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, about plans to reduce MSP ages to 16, between January 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

2. All briefing notes prepared for Ministers and correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internal, held about the £6m of swimming pool funding received by the Scottish Government, between January 1 2023 and the date of this FOI, as mentioned here: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-politicians-make-three-misleading-31055789.

3. All briefing notes prepared for Ministers and correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internal, about potential trade negotiations between the US and UK Government, between July 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

• As a separate document, a list of information considered releasable in relation to the first part of your request, including direction to the location of material otherwise accessible in terms of section 25 of FOISA.
• Letter from Scottish Ministers to Therese Coffey and Nigel Huddleston regarding media reports of a UK-U.S. ‘Trade Partnership’ (Attached separately)
• Response from Nigel Huddleston to Scottish Ministers’ letter on Media Reports of a Possible UK-USA ‘Trade Partnership’ (attached separately)
• A separate document with extracts from three documents (Attached separately):
  • Extract of Ministerial Letter - FTA stakeholders - NFUS – 011123 - Letter from Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade to Martin Kennedy, President of the National Farmers Union Scotland – 01/11/23
  • Extract of US Trade partnership FMQ - FMQ Style Briefing on the UK-US Trade Partnership (06/10/23)
  • Extract of Note to Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism & Trade regarding media reports of UK-US Negotiations (04/10/23)

Some of the information you have requested under your first question is available from a number of online sources. The location and a description of each document is set out in the Annex in relation to your first question. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. 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.

As set out in our letter of 8 November we have interpreted your first question as covering all internal and external exchanges on the subject. That letter explained that the issue of the age at which a person can become an MSP was subject to a Scottish Government consultation which closed on 15 March 2023 ( and that further information including the Government response to the consultation can be found on the Government’s website here) and as a result there were a substantial number of exchanges potentially covered by your request. We explained that we would exclude the formal responses received to the consultation on this issue from the scope of your request, as those responses (link) where consent has been given for publication are already published online alongside the consultation analysis (at the link provided). We also proposed to exclude purely administrative communications, such as those setting up meetings on the consultation, from the scope of the request. This was in order to focus on substantive material such as any record of exchanges and conclusions from consultation meetings.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemption(s) under section 29(1)(a) – Information related to the formulation or development of Scottish Government policy, section 30(b)(i) – Free and frank provision of advice, section 30(b)(ii) – free and frank exchange of views, section 38(1)(b) – personal data of a third party of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Section 29(1)(a) – Information related to the formulation or development of Scottish Government policy

An exemption under section 29(1)(a) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested in your first question. This is where material relates to the formulation and development of Government policy on candidacy rights for Scottish Parliament elections to 16 and 17 year olds. 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. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate.

However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on the election will be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development.

Section 30(b)(i) – Free and frank provision of advice

An exemption(s) under section 30(b)(i) – Free and frank provision of advice of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested under your question 1 and question 3. Information is exempt under sections 30(b)(i) if disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release, however this is outweighed by the public interest in preventing the inhibition of the free and frank provision of advice.

Section 30(b)(ii) – free and frank exchange of views

An exemption(s) under section 30(b)(ii) – Free and frank provision of views of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested under both your question 1 and question 3. Information is exempt under sections 30(b)(ii) if disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release, however this is outweighed by the public interest in preventing the inhibition of the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

Section 38(1)(b) – personal data of a third party

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of individuals included within the correspondence and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation. This exemption 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 exemption. Redactions have been made where that is the case.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested for the second part of your request (detailed below) would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.

2. All briefing notes prepared for ministers and correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internal, held about the £6m of swimming pool funding received by the Scottish Government, between January 1 2023 and the date of this FOI, as mentioned here: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-politicians-make-three-misleading-31055789

Based on the use of the narrowest possible search terms to gather the information requested from the records of the Scottish Government an initial search resulted in a large number of results were identified that were potentially in scope. The costs of assessing, cataloguing and applying exemptions/redactions to these results was assessed as exceeding the upper cost limit of £600. Under section 12 of FOISA, public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. To reduce the scope of the request we would suggest the following steps:

• Dates - The UK Government announced the funding on 15 March 2023 and the Scottish Government announced the autumn budget on 28 September, we would suggest the request is narrowed between these dates.
• Information – We have received a significant amount of correspondence from the public regarding the closure of swimming pools. We would therefore suggest asking for internal communications between Officials and Ministers.

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

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 202300383239 - Information released - Annex

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30 page PDF

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