Economy and Fair Work Committee briefing documentation on Just Transition Fund: EIR release

Information requested

The briefing notes that were prepared for Richard Lochhead in advance of appearance before the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 10 January 2024.

The list of projects funded under the Just Transition Fund that Richard Lochhead mentioned during the committee hearing above.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested, attached separately to this document.

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 exceptions apply.

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.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication about lines to take. 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 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 free and frank advice and views to Ministers in briefing for lines to take. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly provide sound information to Parliament, and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

An exception under regulation Regulation 10(5)(e) – ‘Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information’ of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption has been applied to some information containing confidential commercial or industrial information supplied by Just Transition Fund projects. As this information has been provided in confidence for internal monitoring purposes, sections of the documents which are likely to prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information have been redacted. 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 to align with fair and open government practices. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in safeguarding the commercial interests of companies which bid for Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

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 202400392734 - Information Released - Annex

File type

94 page PDF

File size

1.5 MB