Correspondence regarding E.coli outbreaks, Cabinet event costs, and Rwanda immigration bill: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, notes and minutes from meetings, about the UK Government farming court case (as discussed in Telegraph article published 26 September 2023) between June 1 2023 and the date of this FOI. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/26/government-sues-eu-first-case-since-brexit-snp-finescap”

2. How much it has cost to run travelling parliament / cabinet meetings in 2022, 2023 and 2024, with a breakdown of costs and a list of times it has happened.

3. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, notes and minutes from meetings about e.coli outbreaks, between 1 September 2023 and the date of this FOI.

4. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, notes and minutes from meetings, about the UK Government's Rwanda immigration bill, betweenSeptember 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Response

As your request consisted of four distinct and separate questions, response is set out in relation to each of these questions below.

Question 1
The information you have requested relates to Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 establishing rules for direct payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework of the common agricultural policy.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the EIRs, the Scottish Government is 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.

The exemption under section 39(2) FOISA 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.

Response to your request

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because of the application of exceptions under regulation 10(4)(a) and (e), and (5)(d) of the EIRs.

Per regulation 2(2) of the EIRs some of the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government, and accordingly the regulation 10(4)(a) exception applies. This means that the Scottish Government is unable to disclose it in response to your request because it was received in confidence from the UK Government. However, you may wish to submit a new request to information.rights@fcdo.gov.uk 

The regulation 10(4)(e) exception applies, as some of the information you have requested is internal communications.

The regulation 10(5)(d) exception applies, as the Scottish Government considers that disclosure of the environmental information requested would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of the proceedings of a public authority where such confidentiality is provided for by law.

These EIRs exceptions are all subject to the ‘public interest test’. Taking account of all the circumstances of this question, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found, on balance, that the public interest lies in applying the exceptions. This is because there is an overriding public interest in the UK Government successfully appealing this disallowance in order to protect public funding that the UK and Scottish Governments believe should not be disallowed as a consequence of the European Commission’s disallowance decision. We have also concluded that there is very little public interest in making the requested environmental information available to the requester, and that doing so may in fact risk prejudicing the UK Government’s case. Any such prejudicing of the case for annulment of the European Commission’s disallowance would run contrary to the core public interest at play.

Question 2

No travelling Cabinet event costs were incurred in 2022 as no events were held that year (the programme was still paused following the Covid-19 pandemic).

Two travelling Cabinet events were held in 2023. The first, held in Inveraray on 2 October 2023, cost £17,748.51. The second, held in Haddington on 11 December 2023, cost £11,439.30. The total costs for 2023 were, therefore, £29,187.81. A full breakdown of the 2023 costs are provided in the tables below. The costs of all travelling Cabinets are published on the Scottish Government website and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/cabinet-event-costs/.

2023 Cabinets events

ALL LOCATIONS (£)	MINISTERS	OFFICIALS	TOTAL
Travel & Accommodation	£1,199.40	£7,936.34	£9,135.74
Venues and refreshments		£4,757.60	£4,757.60
Incidentals (Van/Car hire and Audio visual)		£15,294.47	£15,294.47
			£29,187.81

By location

Total costs of Cabinets programme: 2023 - Inveraray

INVERARAY (£)	MINISTERS	OFFICIALS	TOTAL
Travel & Accommodation	£1199.40	£7250.51	£8,449.91
Venues and refreshments		£1490.85	£1,490.85
Incidentals (Van/Car hire and Audio visual)		£7807.75	£7,807.75
			£17,748.51

Total costs of Cabinets programme: 2023 - Haddington

HADDINGTON (£)	MINISTERS	OFFICIALS	TOTAL
Travel & Accommodation	£0.00	£685.83	£685.83
Venues and refreshments		£3266.75	£3266.75
Incidentals (Van/Car hire and Audio visual)		£7,486.72	£7,486.72
			£11,439.30

No travelling Cabinet costs have been incurred in 2024 as the first event of this year has yet to be held. Your question also refers to ‘travelling parliament’. If by this you mean business of the Scottish Parliament held outside of Edinburgh, the Scottish Government does not hold any information on this and this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested here. You might want to contact the Scottish Parliament, which might be able to help.

Question 3

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

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 an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This redacted information includes names and contact information for 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 the UK Government website: HPR volume 17 issue 15: news (20, 21 and 28 December 2023) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 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.

Exemption under sections 30 (b) (i) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because some of the correspondence relevant to your request contains free and frank
exchange for the purposes of provision of advice to Ministers. 

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 the general interest in open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in free and frank exchange for the purposes of provision of advice to Ministers.

Question 4

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 the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This redacted information includes names and contact information for 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.

Exemptions under sections 30 (b) (i) and (ii), and 36(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because some of the correspondence relevant to your request contains free and frank exchange between officials for the purposes of policy deliberation and/or provision of advice to Ministers and legal advice.

These exemptions are 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 the general interest in open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in free and frank exchange for the purposes of policy development and provision of advice to Ministers, including that releasing early draft versions of media responses, briefing and advice which could contain inaccurate information and therefore may be misleading to the public, as well as being likely to inhibit the future ability of officials to develop advice for ministerial consideration.

Part of the answer to your request is that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs noted the introduction of Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Draft Bill in January 2024 and received the following information from Lord Bellamy KC on 19 February 2024:

“You asked for clarity on next steps for the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Draft Bill. As you will know, the Government introduced the Bill to the House of Commons on 7 December 2023. It completed two days of scrutiny during Committee of the Whole House on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 January 2024. As the Bill was not amended in the Committee of the whole House, it went straight to Third Reading and passed with 320 votes to 276 (majority of 44). The Bill passed Second Reading in the House of Lords 29 January 2024 by 206 votes to 84 (majority of 122) and will now continue its parliamentary passage.”

The following parliamentary questions and answers may also be of interest in relation to your request and are available on the Scottish Parliament website:

Written question and answer: S6W-23943 | Scottish Parliament Website
Written question and answer: S6W-23944 | Scottish Parliament Website
Question S6O-02911: Meeting of the Parliament: 21/12/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

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 202400401942 - Information Released - Annex

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