Proposal for a safe consumption facility in Glasgow: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202300373662

All correspondence between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service since June 2022 relating to Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership's proposal for a safe consumption facility in the city.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), received on 29 August 2023, for

‘all correspondence between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service since June 2022 relating to Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership's proposal for a safe consumption facility in the city.’

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

Our original response to your request as outlined above, issued on 13 September 2023, was a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you requested.

Our 13 September 2023 response further clarified: ‘The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because correspondence between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal was carried out between the two organisations independently of Scottish Government and without our involvement.’

This response was based on the interpretation of the request that only direct correspondence between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal in relation to matter of your interest falls within the scope.

Having reviewed your original request and the process of how the original decision was made, I concluded that the interpretation of your request was too narrowly defined. I apologise for this misinterpretation.

I have proceeded on the understanding that you have requested any copies of correspondence between Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service within the given timeframe, including any correspondence that Scottish Government may be included in as a recipient or copied on. This includes any correspondence on the matter where either of the two parties copied or included the other as a recipient.

As a result of this review, some of the requested information is being released as part of Annex 1 to this letter.

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 exemptions under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs), and section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are set out below.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to some of the information requested. It is essential for officials to be able to communicate and meet, often in confidence, with external stakeholders on a range of issues, including on Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership's proposal for a safe consumption facility in the city and wider policy on reducing drug related deaths. Disclosing the content of these communications or information about these meetings, particularly without the consent of the stakeholder, is likely to undermine their trust in the Scottish Government and will substantially inhibit communications on this type of issue in the future. These stakeholders will be reluctant to provide their views fully and frankly if they believe that their views are likely to be made public, particularly as these discussions relate to a sensitive or controversial issue such as provision of safe drug consumption facilities. This would significantly harm the Government’s ability to carry out many aspects of its work, and could adversely affect its ability to gather all of the evidence it needs to make fully informed policies and decisions.

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 allowing Ministers and officials a private space within which to communicate and meet with appropriate external stakeholders as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s policy position on safe consumption facilities, until the Government as a whole can adopt a policy that is sound and likely to be effective. This private space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, so that good decisions can be taken based on fully informed advice and evidence, such as that provided by all stakeholders involved in the policy development, including Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between the Scottish Government and these stakeholders, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy making process, which would not be in the public interest.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie personal names, job titles and contact information, 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 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.

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 202300383795 - Information released - ANNEX 1

File type

4 page PDF

File size

136.2 kB