Briefing notes and communications relating to Professor Sam Eljamel: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for "Between June 2023 and December 2023:

• Briefings notes and other materials prepared for the First Minister and other ministers which relate to former NHS Tayside neurosurgeon Professor Sam Eljamel.
• Communications, including meeting notes, emails, letters, between the health secretary or Scottish Government officials and NHS Tayside where Professor Sam Eljamel is mentioned or discussed.

Since August 2023:

• Communications between the Scottish Government and the Lord President, including emails, letters and notes of telephone discussions, relating the public inquiry announced by Health Secretary Michael Matheson and the selection of a chair for the inquiry."

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested as an attached PDF.

Briefings notes and other materials prepared for the First Minister and other ministers which relate to former NHS Tayside neurosurgeon Professor Sam Eljamel.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Official Scottish Parliament Record (Official Report | Scottish Parliament Website) and NHS Tayside (NHS Tayside (scot.nhs.uk) ). 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 websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 exemption(s) under section(s) 29(1)(a), 29(1) (b), 30(a), 30(b)(i), 30(c), 36(2) & 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Communications, including meeting notes, emails, letters, between the health secretary or Scottish Government officials and NHS Tayside where Professor Sam Eljamel is mentioned or discussed.

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. The search results for this time period resulted in a large volume. 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.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. This may be narrowing the timeframe or types of documents requested. 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.

Communications between the Scottish Government and the Lord President, including emails, letters and notes of telephone discussions, relating the public inquiry announced by Health Secretary Michael Matheson and the selection of a chair for the inquiry.

I enclose a date below which saw a meeting take place between the Solicitor General and the Lord President relating to the selection of a chair for the inquiry:

• October 12th 2023, 11:00

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. We are notifying you that under section 17, we do not hold a note of these discussions.

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 202400392472 - Information Released - Annex

File type

2 page PDF

File size

90.5 kB

FOI 202400392472 - Information Released - Documents

File type

56 page PDF

File size

685.5 kB