Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care's trip to UAE: FOI release

Information requested

1. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, about the UK Government proposing a ban on smoking for those who are 14 and younger, between October 1 and the date of this FOI.

2. Full cost of Neil Gray's trip to UAE between October 25 and 26, and a list of all meetings he held there, and minutes from these minutes.

• Did he raise any concerns about the human rights record in the country?

3. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, mentioning Owen Jones or from Owen Jones, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, mentioning James Dornan or from James Dornan, between
September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

5. Minutes and briefings prepared from Angus Robertson's meeting with Tore Hattrem in August.

6. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, about the Elon Musk Twitter row on October 27, between that date and the day of this FOI.

7. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, about Remembrance Sunday between September 1 and the date of this FOI. 

Response

1. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, about the UK Government proposing a ban on smoking for those who are 14 and younger, between October 1 and the date of this FOI.

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. You may wish to reduce the time period of the request or indicate a more specific aspect in relation to a proposed smoking ban. 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.

2. Full cost of Neil Gray's trip to UAE between October 25 and 26, and a list of all meetings he held there, and minutes from these minutes.

• Did he raise any concerns about the human rights record in the country?

(i) Costs of visit to UAE

Ministerial engagements, travel (including ministerial costs) and gifts received are proactively published in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code 3 months in arrears. The information will be available at:

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Therefore I am advising you that under Section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The total cost for SG officials attending the UAE between 25 and 26 October was £9,071.84. This includes flights, accommodation, in country transport and claimed expenses.

(ii) List of meetings and minutes

The Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy attended 14 meetings in his visit to UAE. A list of those meetings and related minutes can be found at ANNEX A.

Please be advised an exemption under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA (commercial interests) applies to some of the information within the minutes. This exemption applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests. Disclosing this information would be likely to give an advantage in future similar tendering exercises, which would substantially prejudice the ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm Scotland's future commercial business. 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 and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which enter into Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

A further exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to [a small amount of the information held within the minutes because it is personal data of a third party, ie names of SG officials below SCS level, 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. 

(iii) Human rights record

The Scottish Government is committed to upholding its robust standards when it comes to Human Rights. When in UAE the Cabinet Secretary met senior government and business leaders to promote Scotland’s planned COP28 business programme and advance our bilateral trade and investment relationship with the UAE. The Cabinet Secretary took the opportunity to raise Human Rights as part of the discussions around the Scottish Government’s commitment to creating a wellbeing economy to drive not just a wealthy society but a fair and just society. It was agreed to share further insight and intelligence about this work in Scotland and also to learn more about the measures the UAE has taken to tackle issues in their own society.

3. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, mentioning Owen Jones or from Owen Jones, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. We completed a search of the SG corporate records management system and no information within the scope of your request was found.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

4. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, mentioning James Dornan or from James Dornan, between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

We have completed a search of the SG corporate records management system and found correspondence only in scope of your request. Mr Dornan is a current and active MSP and frequently writes to Scottish Ministers on behalf of his constituents on matters personal to them and not in relation to Mr Dornan himself. Therefore an exemption under Section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to the information, this is 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 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.

5. Minutes and briefings prepared from Angus Robertson's meeting with Tore Hattrem in August.

No meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson and the Norwegian Ambassador to the UK Tote Hattram took place in August 2023 and the Scottish Government does not hold any information that is within the scope of the request.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

6. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, about the Elon Musk Twitter row on October 27, between that date and the day of this FOI.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. We completed a search of the SG corporate records management system and no information within the scope of your request was found.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

7. All briefings, notes prepared for ministers, and correspondence received and sent by Scottish Government, including internally, about Remembrance Sunday between September 1 and the date of this FOI. 

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.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. You may wish to reduce the time period of the request or indicate a more specific aspect relating to Remembrance Sunday. 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 - 202300385956 - Information released - Annex

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