Prison Population Leadership Group: FOI release

Information requested

The dates of all the Prison Population Leadership Group meetings that have been taken place so far, the full list of people attending those meetings, the minutes of those meetings and any notes/readouts provided to Scottish Ministers of the meetings as well as any actions taken by the Scottish Government as a result of these meetings. Please provide this information since the group’s establishment, which was announced by Angela Constance in October 2023.

Response

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

The dates of all the Prison Population Leadership Group meetings that have been taken place so far

The Prison Population Leadership Group has met on the following dates since the date of this FOI request: 7 September 2023, 21 September 2023, 19 October 2023, 2 November 2023 and 16 November 2023.

The full list of people attending those meetings

The attendees of the Group is enclosed in Annex A.

The minutes of those meetings

I enclose copies of the minutes of the five meetings of the Group since the date of this FOI in Annex A.

Any notes/readouts provided to Scottish Ministers of the meetings

A copy of an update that was provided to Scottish Ministers in enclosed in Annex A.

Any actions taken by the Scottish Government as a result of these meetings.

Actions taken as a result of the Prison Population Leadership Group meetings are captured in the minutes of the meetings and the Action Plan in Annex A.

An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (free and frank exchange of views) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers and officials to have a private space within which to discuss and explore options before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view. Disclosing the content of free and frank discussions on the response to Scotland’s prison population will substantially inhibit such discussions in the future, particularly because these discussions are still ongoing.

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 explore and refine the Government’s policy, until the Government as a whole can adopt a policy that is sound and likely to be effective. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, 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 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 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 202300386464 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

26 page PDF

File size

297.2 kB