Correspondence regarding Carbon Emissions Land Tax: EIR release

Information requested

Information concerning interactions between the Scottish Government and the John Muir Trust on their proposals for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax, including details of of meetings, who was present at each one and a copy of the minute from each meeting. You also requested correspondence between the John Muir Trust and the Scottish Government in connection with the Carbon Emissions Land Tax or these meetings.

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 in the format you asked for.

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 an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs apply to that information. This is because some of the information relates to internal email exchanges and notes of meetings that were for internal use only and not circulated outwith the Scottish Government.

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 exceptions. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exceptions. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because there is a need for open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing early stage discussions in a private environment to explore and refine the Government’s policy position until the Government as a whole can adopt a policy that is sound and likely to be effective. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy making process, which would not be in the public interest.

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 202400410266 - Information Released - Annex

File type

34 page PDF

File size

2.6 MB