Correspondence regarding Creative Scotland funding and Aye Write festival: FOI release

Information requested

“1. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, from or mentioning Homeless Project Scotland, including briefings, analysis, notes/minutes from meetings, from between October 1 2023 and the date of this FOI?

2. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, analysis, notes/minutes from meetings, about the creation of a dedicated space to address our role in empire, colonialism, and historic slavery, from between January 1 2024 and the date of this FOI?

3. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, analysis, notes/minutes from meetings, about Creative Scotland funding REIN, from between March 1 2024 and the date of this FOI?

4. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internal, briefings, analysis, notes/minutes from meetings, about Aye Write festival, from between January 1 2024 and the date of this FOI?”

Response

Regarding part 1 of your request, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. It may help if I explain that we file our information according to the subject matter, not by reference to the names of organisations with whom we have corresponded. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could specify the subject matter(s) of the correspondence you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, or to documents specifically regarding or relating to Homeless Project Scotland as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at
https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/how-do-i-ask.

Regarding part 2 of your request, I enclose a copy of the information you have requested. Some of the information you have requested is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/empire-slavery-scotlands-museums-steering-grouprecommendations-scottish-government-response/pages/1/. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

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 exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies is because we redact the names and direct contact details for Scottish Government staff below senior civil service level of the organisation. We consider that these individuals can be directly identified from this information and therefore consider it to be personal data as defined by section 3(2) of the DPA 2018. We consider that disclosing this information would contravene the first data protection principle in Articles 5(1)(a) of the GDPR.

Regarding part 3 of your request, I enclose a copy of the information you have requested between the dates of 1 March 2024 and 9 March 2024, and 29 March 2024 and the date of your request, 2 May 2024. The information you have requested between the date of 10 March 2024 and 28 March 2024, is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400406856/. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

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 exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies is because we redact the names and direct contact details for Scottish Government staff below senior civil service level of the organisation. We have also redacted the personal information of individuals external to the Scottish Government. We consider that these individuals can be directly identified from this information and therefore consider it to be personal data as defined by section 3(2) of the DPA 2018. We consider that disclosing this information would contravene the first data protection principle in Articles 5(1)(a) of the GDPR. 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.

An exemption under section 30(b) (free and frank provision of advice) of FOISA also applies to some of the information requested. 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 these exemptions. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing this information however, there is a need for Ministers and officials to have a private space to seek advice, exchange views and discuss options before reaching a settled public view. Disclosing the content of such advice and discussions would substantially inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views in the future.

Additionally, we have redacted any information that is out of scope of your request where it does not pertain to REIN.

Regarding part 4 of your request, I enclose a copy of the information you have requested in the attachments to this letter.

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 exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies is because we redact the names and direct contact details for Scottish Government staff below senior civil service level of the organisation. We have also redacted the personal information of individuals external to the Scottish Government. We consider that these individuals can be directly identified from this information and therefore consider it to be personal data as defined by section 3(2) of the DPA 2018. We consider that disclosing this information would contravene the first data protection principle in Articles 5(1)(a) of the GDPR.

An exemption under section 30(b) (free and frank provision of advice) of FOISA also applies to some of the information requested. 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 these exemptions. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing this information however, there is a need for Ministers and officials to have a private space to seek advice, exchange views and discuss options before reaching a settled public view. Disclosing the content of such advice and discussions would substantially inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views in the future.

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 202400412099 - Information Released - Annex

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64 page PDF

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