Scottish Government and Equinor meetings at COP26: EIR release

Information requested

Documentation relevant to meetings held between the Scottish Government and Equinor (or their representatives, such as trade bodies) at the United Nations COP26 conference in Glasgow in 2021. This should include, but not be limited to the meeting between Kate Forbes MSP and Equinor evidenced on the lobbying register at this link: https://www.lobbying.scot/SPS/InformationReturn/SearchInformationReturnDetail/31504.

Documentation requested may include but not be limited to meeting attendance, briefings, topics discussed, minutes, follow-up meetings, and any agreed actions.

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 some of the information you requested. Relevant documentation is enclosed. 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)(e) (protection of confidentiality of commercial or industrial information ) and 11(2) (personal information) of the EIRs applies to that information.

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. An exception under regulation 10 (4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communications. 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.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e): Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by commercial entities. 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 some public interest in release because of interest in open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in preventing harm to the commercial interests of commercial entities.

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 202400410353 - Information Released - Annex A

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