Circular Economy Bill, oil and gas licences and Keir Starmer correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

1. a) Could you supply minutes/notes from all meetings Lorna Slater has held about the circular economy bill this year?
b) Could you also supply the risk register for the circular economy bill?

2. a) Could you supply a list of all meetings held by Humza Yousaf between October 7 2023 and October 31 2023?
b) Could you supply a list of all meetings held by Humza Yousaf between November 7 2023 and November 30 2023?
c) Could you supply a list of all meetings held by Humza Yousaf between September 7 2023 and September 30 2023?

3. Could you supply all correspondence sent between Humza Yousaf/Scottish Government and Sir Keir Starmer, including any internal correspondence about Sir Keir Starmer, between January 1 2024 and the date of this FOI?

4. Could you supply all correspondence, notes, minutes from meetings, briefings and internal correspondence held by the Scottish Government about the latest offering of oil and gas licences, as mentioned here.

Response

Parts 2 & 3 of your request will be responded to under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). For parts 1 & 4, 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.

Question 1(a):

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex B.

On reviewing material within scope of your request, exemptions have been applied in line with EIRs. The exemptions applied can be found in Annex A.

Question 1(b):

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. This is because we do not hold a specific risk register in relation to the Circular Economy Bill, although we do assess risks on a monthly basis.

Therefore, this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information you have requested and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test.

Under regulation 5(1) of the EIRs, a Scottish public authority that holds environmental information must make it available when requested to do so. This duty is not absolute. In some cases, information is excepted from disclosure, under regulations 10 and 11 of the EIRs. However, all of the exceptions in regulation 10 (and parts of regulation 11) are subject to a public interest test. To clarify, even though we do not hold the information, because we are using EIRs Exception 10(4)(a) in response to your request, we are required to apply a public interest test. Guidance can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 2:

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(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts received are routinely and proactively published in line with the Ministerial Code.

Question 3:

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex B.

On reviewing material within scope of your request, exemptions have been applied in line with FOISA. The exemptions applied can be found in Annex A.

Question 4:

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex B.

On reviewing material within scope of your request, exemptions have been applied in line with EIRs. The exemptions applied can be found in Annex A.

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 202400405191 - Information released - Annex A & B

File type

47 page PDF

File size

580.6 kB