Glasgow Blood Donation Centre, meetings with Offshore Energies UK and Stop Climate Chaos campaigners: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government that mentions Andy Burnham, or is from/to Andy Burnham, plus minutes or briefings which mention him, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

2. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, about his trip to the Glasgow Blood Donation Centre in Glasgow's Nelson Mandela Place on December 31, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

3. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, and minutes about/from Humza Yousaf's meetings with Offshore Energies UK in January, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, and minutes about Humza yousaf joining Stop Climate Chaos campaigners in Holyrood on January 18, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

5. About his rental property during the Bute House repairs, could you tell us who owned the flat he rented, and a breakdown of costs for the category of property search and advice.

Response

Response to your request

Below we have provided a response to each part of your request in turn and have outlined details of any exemptions applied to the information requested and/or materials related to the request. You will find a full table of enclosed documents and the exemptions applied to each of them in the enclosed document titled 'ANNEX'.

1. "All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government that mentions Andy Burnham, or is from/to Andy Burnham, plus minutes or briefings which mention him, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI."

With regards to part 1 of your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested from part 1 of your request would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that a general request for the release of “All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government that mentions Andy Burnham, or is from/to Andy Burnham, plus minutes or briefings which mention him …” with no specific detail in terms of policy or subject matter, requires an internal process that would cover all policy areas of the Scottish Government. To locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search
of the records of every department.

The Scottish Information Commissioner’s Decision 162/2012 found that any such search that requires an “SG wide trawl” would fall under a Section 12 exemption. 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. For example, you could specify the subject matter(s) of the correspondence, minutes, or briefings you are interested in and restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would be required to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on their website at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

2. "All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, about his trip to the Glasgow Blood Donation Centre in Glasgow's Nelson Mandela Place on December 31, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI."

We have enclosed a copy of the information requested which has been compiled into a single document. You will note that some information in this compiled document has been redacted, this is because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that
information.

This exemption applies as it relates to personal data of a third party (i.e. names, job titles, email addresses, telephone numbers) 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.

3. "All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, and minutes about/from Humza Yousaf's meetings with Offshore Energies UK in January, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI."

Because this part of your request predominantly relates to environmental information, it has been dealt with under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs). Therefore, the information released is subject to the relevant exceptions outlined within these regulations.

I have enclosed a copy of relevant documents related to this request. After careful consideration, certain exceptions have been applied to withhold parts of the information requested. Please refer to the table of enclosed documents in the enclosed 'ANNEX' document to see a full breakdown of the documents supplied and which exceptions have been applied to each of them.

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) applies to some of the information requested because it relates to internal communications. This exception is subject to the 'public interest test' and, taking into account 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 favour lies in favour of upholding the exception.

We recognise the inherent public interest in accessing information, particularly when it concerns transparency about the internal decision-making processes within government bodies or organisations. However, in this instance, the importance of preserving the confidentiality of internal communications takes precedence. Such confidentiality ensures open, candid dialogue among officials, critical for informed policy development. Releasing this information might inhibit such frank discussions, undermining effective governance. Therefore, despite valuing transparency, we find withholding this information better serves the public by ensuring high-quality decision-making processes.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Regulation 10(5)(e) relates to the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information and it applies in this instance because the information is commercial or industrial in nature and its disclosure could cause harm to a legitimate economic interest.

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 acknowledge there is a legitimate public interest in disclosure due to the importance of transparency regarding government interactions with private entities. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in not releasing highly commercially sensitive information that could cause harm to a legitimate economic interest.

4. "All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government, including internally, all notes and briefings, and minutes about Humza yousaf joining Stop climate chaos campaigners in Holyrood on January 18, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI."

In relation to part 4, we have enclosed a number of documents providing the information requested.

You will note that some information has been redacted, this is because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This exemption applies as it relates to personal data of a third party (i.e. names, job titles, email addresses, telephone numbers) 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.

5. "About his rental property during the Bute House repairs, could you tell us who owned the flat he rented, and a breakdown of costs for the category of property search and advice."

The rental property was let through a residential and commercial property company, and owned by a private landlord. We are withholding the personal details of the flat owner. This information is withheld as an exemption under Section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information, this is 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 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.

The fees for property search and advice were £5,400 and comprised of commercial advice on the residential property market in Edinburgh. This specifically covered: a market overview; a search of the market for property within the agreed specification and location; and accompanied views and market advice to assist securing a property. This was billed by a flat fee for each section of the instruction.

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 202400396875 - Information released - Annex & Attachments

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164 page PDF

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9.7 MB