Publication - FOI/EIR release

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism meeting with Norwegian Government in relation to Aquaculture: EIR release

Published: 4 March 2024
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Marine and fisheries, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202300383318
Date received: 31 October 2023
Date responded: 29 November 2023

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

Any pre-meeting briefing provided to then Minister Fergus Ewing prior to his meeting on the 25th November 2019 with the Norwegian Government entitled 'Exchange of policies and expertise in relation to the sustainability of the Aquaculture Sector', and any note or minute for this meeting and the list of all attendees and the agenda for the meeting.

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 the response.

Response to your request

I attach the following documents relating to your request:

Meeting date	Document	Exception applied
25/11/2019	A - Fergus Ewing Report to the First Minister	10(4)(e)
25/11/2019	B - Itinerary (with draft agenda)
25/11/2019	C- Briefing for bilateral meeting with Harald Nesvik	10(4)(e), 11(2)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not all have the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing parts of your request under the exceptions at Regulations 10(4)(a), 10(4)(e) and 11(2) of the EIRs. The reasons why these exceptions apply is explained in Annex A below.

ANNEX A
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Regulation 10(4) (a) – information not held

An exception under regulation 10(4) (a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not hold.

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 meetings between Mr Ewing and parties with aquaculture interests, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Regulation 10(4) (e) – internal communications

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication in the form of a Ministerial briefing or note between Scottish Government Ministers and officials about the meeting referred to in the request.

We recognise that there is some public interest in release 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 aquaculture industry 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.

Regulation 11(2) – Personal data of a third party

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested 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. This exception 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 exception.

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.