Publication - FOI/EIR release

Offshore Training and Skills Passport development: EIR release

Published: 22 May 2024
Directorate: Energy and Climate Change Directorate
Topic: Energy, Environment and climate change, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202400407134
Date received: 29 March 2024
Date responded: 26 April 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

Copy of all agendas and meeting notes where the development of an Offshore Training/ Skills Passport was discussed between June 2023 and the present day.

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.

Response to your request

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

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.

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)(e) (Internal communications), 10(5)(d) (Confidentiality of proceedings provided for by law (includes legal advice)) and 10(5)(e) (Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

As the exceptions are conditional we have applied the 'public interest test'. This means we have, in all the circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exceptions. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in disclosing information about development of the Skills Passport to date this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting the ongoing development of the Passport solution.

Out of scope information has also been redacted, for example, where meeting minutes discuss topics other than development of the Skills Passport.

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.