Houthis, Red Sea or Yemen correspondence: FOI release

Information requested

• All correspondence received and sent by the Scottish Government to the UK Government which mentions the Houthis, Red Sea or Yemen between January 5 2024 and February 1.
•  All briefings, notes or minutes from meetings held by the Scottish government which mentions the Houthis, Red Sea or Yemen between January 5 2024 and February 1.

Response

With regards to the first part of your request, while our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you requested.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

With regards to the second part of your request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. You can find this attached in Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested.

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.

Exemptions under: section 29(1)(a) Formulation or development of government policy, section 30(b) Free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views and 32(1)(a)International relations, of FOISA applies to that information. The reason section 29(1)(a) applies to this information is because the information relates to the formulation and development of government policy. The reason section 30(b) applies to the information requested is because disclosure of information would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. The reason section 32(1)(a) applies to this information is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the UK and another state.

These exemptions are 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of interest in the Scottish Government's response to the crisis in the Middle East. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing for the efficient and considered formulation and development of government policy.

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 202400412753 - Information Released - Annex A

File type

30 page PDF

File size

955.0 kB