Publication - FOI/EIR release

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice invitation to Carers Trust Scotland event: FOI release

Published: 15 May 2024
Directorate: Social Security Directorate
Topic: Health and social care, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202400400531
Date received: 21 February 2024
Date responded: 19 March 2024

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information requested

I would like to request information regarding an event recently held in the Scottish Parliament that I believe the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice was invited to but did not attend.

The event was called ‘Benefitting Older Carers: improving social security support for older adult unpaid carers’ and it took place on Thursday 11th January 2024. The event was put together by Carers Trust Scotland.

By the looks of it, a civil servant attended instead of the Cabinet Secretary.

So there are a few things I would like to request about this:

1. A copy of the initial reply from the Cabinet Secretary’s office regarding the invitation to the event. That might be in the form of an email or something else. I’m guessing the invite will have come from Carers Trust Scotland.

2. A copy of the final reply which undoubtedly contained the information that the Cab Sec would not be attending but a civil servant would be attending instead.

3. A copy of the email chain and all chains of correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary’s office and other civil servants about attending the event. To be very clear here, I am expecting there is an email chain between them all discussing who should attend the event, why the Cab Sec couldn’t attend etc.

4. The official reason why the Cabinet Secretary couldn’t attend the event.

5. A copy of the Cab Sec’s diary for that evening (Thursday 11th January 2024), showing what they were doing instead.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of information you have requested because exemption(s) under FOISA (2002) applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Please see document 1: Response to the invitation.

2. A copy of the final reply which undoubtedly contained the information that the Cab Sec would not be attending but a civil servant would be attending instead.

Please see document 2: Final official response advising that officials would attend on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary.

Exemptions apply to document 3: Advice between Cabinet Secretary office and other civil servants, and document 4: Briefing on attending the event.

s. 30(b)(i) the free and frank provision of advice

This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views. This recognises the need for officials to have a private space in which to conduct frank discussion. This private and safe thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered based on the best available advice so that good decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

The above exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release, however there is a greater public interest in high quality decision-making, and in the properly considered implementation and development of decisions. This means, Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options, and debate those rigorously to fully understand their possible implications. Furthermore, there is also a greater public interest in allowing a private and safe space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers and other officials.

See document 5: Advice to the Cabinet Secretary office on who will attend the event.

Exemptions apply to some of document 5.

s. 38(1)(b) personal information

The personal information, including names and contact details of officials is their own personal information, and has therefore been redacted under FOISA.

4. The official reason why the Cabinet Secretary couldn’t attend the event.

I can confirm that the Cabinet Secretary had a prior personal engagement.

5. A copy of the Cab Sec’s diary for that evening (Thursday 11th January 2024), showing what they were doing instead.

We routinely only provide written detail of what is in the Cabinet Secretary's diary and I have provided this above under request number 4.

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.