Publication - FOI/EIR release

Correspondence regarding Ukraine, Israel and Palestine: FOI release

Published: 30 August 2024
Directorate: External Affairs Directorate
Topic: International, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202400401396
Date received: 27 February 2024
Date responded: 11 April 2024

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

Information requested

1. How much money overall has the UK Government given to the Scottish Government to help with resettling Ukrainian refugees and how much has been spent by the Scottish Government, with a breakdown of what the money was spent on?

2. All correspondence, notes, briefings and minutes from meetings surrounding Nicola Sturgeon or any Scottish Government minister signing up for the Ukrainian super sponsor scheme, between March 2022 and the date of this FOI.

3. All correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UK Government about the war in Israel and Palestine, between October 15 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. All correspondence, notes, briefings and analysis undertaken about settling Palestine refugees as announced in Humza Yousaf's SNP conference speech: https://news.sky.com/story/first-minister-calls-for-uk-to-take-palestinianrefugees-12986386

5. All correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UNRWA about thewar in Israel and Palestine, between January 1 2024 and the date of this FOI.

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested. You can find this attached in Annex A.

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. This is because the broad scope of your request requires a significant amount of resource to locate, retrieve and provide the information requested. 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. 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: https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/how-do-i-ask.

3. All correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UK Government about the war in Israel and Palestine, between October 15 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Some of the information you have requested is available from: Israel-Gaza conflict: letter to UK Government about Gaza refugee scheme - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). 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 website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. You can find this attached in Annex B.

An exemption under Section 28(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested. Information is exempt from disclosure where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between administrations in the UK (e.g. between Westminster and Holyrood). 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.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested because it is personal data of a third party (i.e. names/contact details of individuals), 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.

Some of the information you have requested is available from: Communications between Ministers and officials regarding Gaza/Israel: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), specifically Annex A. 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 website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. You can find this attached in Annex C.

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 exemptions under sections 29 (1)(a) Formulation or development of government policy and section 30(b) Free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views of FOISA applies to that information. The reason section 29(1)(a) applies to this information is because the information relates to the formulation and development of government policy. The reason section 30(b) applies to the information requested is because disclosure of information would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.

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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in the Scottish Government's proposal to support refugees from Israel/Gaza. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing for the efficient and considered formulation and development of government policy.

5. All correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UNRWA about thewar in Israel and Palestine, between January 1 2024 and the date of this FOI.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested. You can find this attached in Annex D.

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