Correspondence between the First Minister and Scottish Government officials/advisers relating to Gaza and/or Palestine: FOI release

Information requested

Any correspondence between John Swinney and Scottish Government officials and advisers regarding the situation in Gaza and/or Palestine, since John Swinney was elected First Minister.

Response

I enclose a copy of most 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.

An exemption under: section 30(b) Free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views of FOISA applies to some of the information that you requested. 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. 

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.

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 - 202400416169 - Information released - Annex A

File type

10 page PDF

File size

264.4 kB