Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), cladding and foreign trips: EIR release

Information requested

1. All correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government about UFO sightings and alien sightings, including internally, plus notes and briefings about this same topic, from between September 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

2. How many buildings have the Scottish Government spent money on getting rid of cladding and upgrading so far, and how much of the £97.1m supplied by the UK Government has been spent, with a breakdown of these costs?

3. Did the Icelandic PM accept this advice from the briefing Humza Yousaf was given before meeting her at New York's Climate Week or what was her response? The First Minister was told to ask Ms Jakobsdóttir whether Iceland has "considered providing funding on Loss and Damage?" If not, his officials were "happy to provide advice/support on this. We could have a briefing ready for your Climate Minister to consider ahead of the COP28 meeting in Reykjavik."

4. All correspondence between Angus Robertson, Humza Yousaf or their offices and Lord Cameron/the Foreign Office, about foreign trips between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI.

5. Did French politicians met by Maree Todd in September on her trip to France accept the request to offer them advice on hosting big sporting events as suggested in briefings before she met them? What was the response to these suggestions?
-https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-minister-wanted-offer-advice-31791537

6. All correspondence between John Glen and the Scottish Government about the Scottish civil service from between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI? Including internal correspondence, briefings, notes and any minutes from meetings with him.

7. All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government about RAAC in homes in Aberdeen, including internally, minutes and briefings from any meetings about this topic, between November 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

Response

I have split your request down into the seven different sections and have answered them in order below:

1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held) that the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. Further information regarding this exemptions can be found in the annex below.

2. The spend to date is published on gov.scot Single Building Assessment programme: spending information - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). At the end of December 2023 the cumulative spend was £7.141m which supports the assessment, urgent interim measures and remediation of those buildings with the pilot programme. Within the pilot programme one building external wall has been remediated on a development, mitigation works has been undertaken on a further two developments, and preliminary assessments have been completed on a further 25 developments with the remainder scheduled on the pathway by Summer 2024. The process of mitigation is complex and it is not possible to go straight to remediating the cladding, there is assessment, mitigation, and design before remediation of external wall.

3. The issue of Loss and Damage was not discussed during the meeting between the First Minister and the Icelandic Prime Minister.

4. Some of the information you have requested is already available to you:

• a letter from Lord Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs to Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP dated December 2023 publicly available here: https://www.thenational.scot/news/23980929.david-camerons-full-letter-threatening-shut-scottishembassies/.
• and two letters were released to you under FOI 202400396015:

- a letter dated 22nd November 2023 from Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP to Lord Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
- a letter dated 15 December 2023 from Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson MSP to Lord Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.

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 the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested as there was no further correspondence identified in our searches to date. Therefore we are applying the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs.

5. The meetings between Maree Todd and French politicians were arranged at official level. These meetings did not have pre-agreed agendas but suggestions for topics were provided in the briefing. However, this did not come up during discussions with politicians.

6. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, as per point one and four of your request, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is a formal notice under regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held) that the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have.

7. I enclose a number of documents which should satisfy your request (Annex A). Due to the number of documents we have consolidated these as one attachment for ease. 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 11(2) (personal information) and regulation 10(4) (e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained below in this letter. Please note that there has also been information redacted in some of the documents because some information found in the documents is not within the scope of the request.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested in your request 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) of the EIRs (internal communications) also applies to some of the information requested in your request because it is internal communication about the formulation of lines to take. 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, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers in briefing for lines to take. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

An exception under regulation 12(4)(d) (incomplete data) also applies to some of the information requested. This is because the information contained has been superseded by more current date. 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 is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate, it is important that the current, most relevant, information is accessible. Fuller details of the information withheld under this exception can be found in the Scottish Housing Regulators website, in response to an FoI they responded to. Further, the Scottish Government publishes minutes of meeting related to RAAC on pages related to the Ministerial Working Group on Building & Fire Safety and the Cross Sector Working Group on RAAC.

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.

EIR 202400402631 - Information released - Annex A

File type

27 page PDF

File size

342.7 kB