Ecocide & fish farm briefing packs provided to Ministers: EIR release

Information requested

All briefing packs provided to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and the Islands, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Minister for Energy and the Environment concerning

• Ecocide
• Fish farms

I sought further clarification from you on 7 March 2024, which you kindly provided in your email dated 14 March 2024:

“Would you like all briefing packs on ecocide and all briefing packs on fish farms OR briefing packs only on the collective subject of ecocide and fish farms?

The Former, though in relation to fish farms see my details below

As no time period has been specified this will bring a large number of briefing packs into scope potentially which could make the request manifestly unreasonable. Is there any particular time period you are interested in?

Since the formal election of the current First Minister, if this remains manifestly unreasonable, since September 2023

Can you be more specific as to what you are interested in in particular relating to fish farms, for example the regulation of fish farms?

1) Animal welfare and fish farms
2) regulation of fish farms
3) workers rights on fish farms.”

I can confirm here that we have treated the dates in scope of your request as between 1 March 2023 and 27 February 2024 (the date of your request) inclusive.

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 some of the information you requested. Please find attached an Index of Enclosures.

Some of the information you have requested in Enclosure 03 (Annex A, S and T) and Enclosure 05 (Annex G) in relation to animal welfare and fish farms and regulation of fish farms is available from the Scottish Parliament website. Details as follows:

Enclosure 03 (Annex S and T), Enclosure 05 (Annex G):

Rural Affairs and Island Committee
Salmon Farming in Scotland – update from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land
Reform and Islands – 3 May 2023

Salmon Farming in Scotland 3 May 2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

Enclosure 03 (Annex A):

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
Meeting – Salmon Farming – 10 May 2023

Meeting of the Parliament: RAI/10/05/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 under regulations 10(4)(a) (Information not held), 10(4)(e) (internal communications), 11(1) (personal data of the applicant), and
11(2) (personal data of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you that some of the information which is out of scope of your request is in relation to Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). Màiri McAllan MSP, then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition announced to Parliament on 29 June 2023, the decision that the Scottish Government would no longer progress with the proposal as consulted on; to implement HPMAs across 10% of Scotland’s seas by 2026: Meeting of the Parliament: 29/06/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

Subsequently, on 7 November 2023, Scottish Government published the analysis and response to the consultation, confirming that HPMAs were not being progressed: Scottish Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) consultation: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Exceptions apply

The Scottish Government does not have the information

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in relation to briefing packs concerning workers’ rights on fish farms.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about workers’ rights on fish farms, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

Regulation 10(4)(e) – internal communications in relation to internal legal advice

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 legal advice and disclosure would breach legal professional privilege.

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, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients, to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation.

Regulation 11(1) – applicant has asked for their own personal data

An exception under regulation 11(1) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal information of which you are the data subject, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and 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.

Regulation 11(2) – applicant has asked for personal data of a third party 

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.

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 202400401569 - Information released - Attachment

File type

150 page PDF

File size

2.2 MB