Climate change plan report delay: EIR release

Information requested

'1. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, regarding the delay to the government publishing a draft of its climate change plan, announced on November 7, sent between August 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

• Can you include all discussions about the climate change plan as well between the same dates?

2.How much progress has been made on writing the climate change plan, in terms of what percentage of the draft is written/was written, before the delay?

3. When was it scheduled for release before the delay announced by Ms McAllan? Exact date if possible.'

Response

1. 'All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal correspondence, regarding the delay to the government publishing a draft of its climate change plan, announced on November 7, sent between August 1 2023 and the date of this FOI. -Can you include all discussions about the climate change plan as well between the same dates?'

Please see attached Annexes A - G which hold information in scope of your request.

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 an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) Internal communications of the EIRs applies to that information. The reason why that exception applies is because the information requested is internal communications of the Scottish Government.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release due to public interest in information contained in internal communications. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing for free and frank internal communications.

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.

Additionally, some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Parliament website. You can find these documents here: Scottish Government Draft Climate Change Plan | Scottish Parliament Website, Scottish Government Draft Climate Change Plan | Scottish Parliament Website and Scottish Government Draft Climate Change Plan | Scottish Parliament Website. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access toobtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

2. 'How much progress has been made on writing the climate change plan, in terms of what percentage of the draft is written/was written, before the delay?'

Under the terms of the exception of regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested because the drafting of the Climate Change Plan is not measured in terms of 'percentages'.

3. 'When was it scheduled for release before the delay announced by Ms McAllan? Exact date if possible.'

As outlined in the Bute House Agreement, a draft Climate Change Plan was due to be published in November 2023. This was not a statutory requirement, which requires the final version of the next CCP to be published in March 2025, and the draft Plan to be laid in Parliament by late 2024.

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.

EIR 202300387109 - Information Released - Annex A - G

File type

16 page PDF

File size

1.0 MB