Health capital investment correspondence and briefing packs: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence to and from Scottish Ministers from January 1st 2023 to present date relating in any way to health capital investment.

2. All correspondence to and from Scottish Ministers from January 1st 2023 to present date relating in any way to the Sportscotland budget and/or the Active, Healthy Lives budget.

3.All briefing packs provided to Scottish Ministers from January 1st 2023 to present date relating to health capital investment.

4. All briefing packs provided to Scottish Ministers from January 1st 2023 to present date relating to spending on Sportscotland and/or Active, Healthy Lives.

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested in the attached PDF files. A header or reference to each point has been used to identify each part of your request.

Exemptions under section 30(b) – free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views and section 38(1)(b) - the personal data of a third party of FOISA applies to some the information you have requested.

An exemption under section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. This exemption recognises the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers before the Scottish Government reaches a settled public view.

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 a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers, as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s policy position on capital projects. 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 (the personal data of a third party) applies to personal information of third parties

[OUT OF SCOPE] has been used to remove general conversation within documents that has no relation or subsequent value to fulfilling the request. General email greetings and conversation between staff on off topic subjects are considered out of scope and removed.

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 202300389339 - Information Released - Annex

File type

231 page PDF

File size

4.2 MB