Scottish Prison Service levels of remand (November 1st 2023 and December 20th 2023) FOI release

Information requested

All written and/or electronic correspondence and/or minutes between the Minister for Justice (including any Scottish Government officials) and the Scottish Prison Service pertaining to levels of remand (between November 1st 2023 and December 20th 2023)?

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested in Annex A.

Some of the information you have requested is available from Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2022-23. You will find information on levels of remand in the report as well as the Supplementary tables.

Some of the information you have requested is available from Prison population projections: November 2023 edition ‐ gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Some of the information you have requested is available from the SPS Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23. You can find the information in the main report, on page 18 and 19, under the heading ‘Our Service Today’ as well as Annex 4.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Parliament Website Meeting of the Parliament: 03/10/2023, which includes an October 2023 statement by Angela Constance on the prison population.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

An exemption under section 30(b)(i) of FOISA (free and frank provision of advice) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. The exemption recognise the need for officials/ministers to have free and frank discussion with ministers and executive agencies when advising on and discussing the solutions for any issues/concerns raised.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all of 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. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials/Ministers provide free and frank advice and discussion with Executive agencies to enable finding solution to any issues/concerns raised.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, 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.

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FOI 202400391793 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

6 page PDF

File size

208.3 kB