Correspondence on Homelessness and President of Iceland's Scotland Visit: FOI release

Information requested

1. Could you supply all briefings prepared for Ministers, all analysis undertaken and all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internally, about homelessness in the last three months? 

Can this include any minutes/notes from meetings about this topic in the same timeframe?

2. How many Scots are currently deemed economically inactive in the latest stats received by the Scottish Government, as a number and percentage of the workforce, and all briefings written in the last three monthsabout this issue?

3. Could you supply all correspondence between the Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland, including internal correspondence, about the homelessness death stats from November 2023, between September 1 2023 and December 15 2023?

4. Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internally, briefings, minutes/notes from meetings, about or from the President of Iceland's visit to Scotland on April 16, from between February 1 2024 and the date of this FOI?

Response

Question 1. An exemption under section 12 of FOISA applies to the information you have requested.

While our aim is to provide information wherever 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. 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 ask a more direct question or reduce the search period, 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:

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

Question 2: Some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government’s Labour Market Trends publication, which was published on 14th May 2024. 

This contained estimates of inactivity rates and numbers in Scotland from the ONS Labour Force Survey. This showed that in January-March 2024, an estimated 804,000 people aged 16 to 64 in Scotland were economically inactive and the estimated economic inactivity rate was 23.4 per cent.

This iteration of the Scottish Government’s Labour Market Trends publication can be found at the following  address:

Labour Market Trends: May 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has published several statistical bulletins in the period 13th February – 14th May 2024 containing information on the number of people in Scotland deemed economically inactive, and the inactivity rate. These are set out below:

Statistical publications containing information on inactivity rates and Numbers, from the ONS Labour Force Survey:

16 April 2024: Labour Market Trends: April 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

12 March 2024: Labour Market Trends: March 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

13 February 2024: Labour Market Trends: February 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Statistical publications containing information on characteristics of those deemed economically inactive in Scotland, from the ONS Annual Population Survey:

23 April 2024: Scotland's Labour Market Insights: April 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

13 March 2024: Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom - January to December 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has published several Economic Bulletins that contain information on the economic inactivity rate in Scotland. These are set out below:

10 May 2024: Scottish economic bulletin: May 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

8 April 2024: Scottish economic bulletin: April 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

11 March 2024: Scottish economic bulletin: March 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has also produced recent statistical publications containing information on inactivity that, though published before the period requested, are relevant to briefings in that period. These are set out below:

16 January 2024: Labour Market Trends: January 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

19 December 2023: Scotland's Labour Market Overview: December 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

31 May 2023: Labour Market Statistics for Scotland by Disability: January to December 2022

The Fair Work Convention has also published a report containing information on inactivity rates within Scotland over time that, though published before the period requested, is relevant to briefings in that period.

The Fair Work Convention’s report is available at the following address: Measuring Scotland’s Performance as a Leading Fair Work Nation (fairworkconvention.scot)

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

I enclose a copy of the remaining information you requested. This includes information that is not contained in the sources provided in this response. These are provided as annexes to this document named Q2 Annex A and Q2 Annex B.

Question 3: We have attached a number of emails and documents in scope of your request. The documents are named as Q3 Doc 1 to Doc 8. Exemptions have been applied to some of the information you have requested.

Question 4: We have attached a number of emails and documents in scope of your request. The documents are named Q4 Doc 1 to 5. Exemptions have been applied to some of the information you have requested.

Further information on the exemptions we have applied can be found below.

Section 28

An exemption under section 28(1) of FOISA (relations within the UK) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. It is essential for the effective administration of the UK as a whole that there should be regular, and often private, communications between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the other devolved administrations. The release of these communications about the Icelandic President’s visit to Scotland would mean that the UK Government is likely to be more reluctant to share such information with the Scottish Government in future, which would reduce both the frequency and openness of communications between the Scottish Government and other UK administrations.

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. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in maintaining good relations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government, and in protecting the free exchange of information between the administrations to ensure that we keep each other fully and regularly informed about matters of mutual interest. There is no public interest in disclosing information when that will damage relationships and disrupt future communications.

Section 32

An exemption under section 32 (1 ) (a) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. The Scottish Government cannot release the requested information in case of substantial prejudice to international relations.

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.

We recognise that there is some public interest in this release because the public might be interested in briefing and notes prepared for ministers. However, this interest would be outweighed by the essential need (and therefore public interest) in ensuring that good diplomatic relations are maintained with another country by withholding details of briefing prepared for ministers ahead of bilateral engagements.

Section 38

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie 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 202400413604 - Information Released - Annex

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243 page PDF

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5.7 MB