Meeting of Former First Minister and Chinese Consul General in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

Minutes of the meeting on 16 January between the First Minister and Zhang Biao, Chinese Consul General in Scotland.

All internal and external correspondence relating to this meeting. This should include email, WhatsApp or any other form of electroniccommunication as well as any handwritten notes or notes taken from verbal conversations.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested. This can be found at Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under Section 30(c), 32(1)(a) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA apply to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

An exemption under Section 30(c) of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested. Information is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would otherwise prejudice substantially, or be likely to prejudice substantially, the effective conduct of public affairs. 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.

An exemption under Section 32(1)(a) of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested. Information is exempt from disclosure if disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the UK and another state. 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.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested because it is personal data of a third party (i.e. names/contact details of 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.

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 202400409335 - Information Released - Annex

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