Publication - FOI/EIR release

Contaminated bathing waters: EIR release

Published: 17 September 2024
Directorate: Environment and Forestry Directorate
Topic: Environment and climate change, Public sector
FOI reference: EIR/202400394009
Date received: 17 January 2024
Date responded: 13 February 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

• All briefings prepared for Ministers, correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government and minutes/notes held, about sewage in beach waters between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

• All briefings prepared for Ministers, correspondence sent and received by Scottish Government and minutes/notes held, about water contamination at bathing waters between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

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.

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested in a pdf format.

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 (enclosures 13, 14 17 and 19) because it is internal communication in the form of emails between Scottish Government Ministers and officials about the development and processing of the Scottish Government policies. 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 as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions. This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Disclosing such discussions may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on policies while they are still under discussion and development.

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.