Correspondence regarding Trade Bill, Polling stations and Former First Minister trip to JP Morgan: FOI release

Information requested

1) How much money has the government given to polling companies in the last five years, with a breakdown per year, per polling company and what the money was for?

2) Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, all briefings and analysis held, and all minutes/notes from meetings about the Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill, from the last six months?

3) Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, all briefings and analysis held, and all minutes/notes from meetings, about and from Humza Yousaf's trip to JP Morgan on April 23, between March 1 2024 and May 15 2024.

Response

I enclose copies of some of the information you requested. Please see this information in the documents attached.

For clarity, we would like to highlight that one of the extracts in the attached contains a typo. As we are required to ensure that all documents that have been found in scope remain unamended regardless of any typos or errors, we have not corrected any typos. However, in the extract document for Q2, please note that in extract 13 “minot” should instead read “minor”.

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 exemptions under the following sections of FOISA applies to that information:

Section 12- Excessive cost of compliance

Section 30(b)(i) – Free and frank provision of advice

Section 30(b)(ii) – Free and frank exchange of views

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data relating to a third party

The reasons why those exemptions apply are explained below.

Section 12

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

The attached spreadsheet provides an annual breakdown of the total amount of spend with polling companies on all projects commissioned (both quantitative and qualitative), from 2018-2023. Spend data for financial year 2023/24 is not available as it is currently going through the validation process and due to the time required to pull, check, and extract the required data a full breakdown of services and associated costs has not been provided. Whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of investigating, extrapolating, and producing the figures requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600, calculated on the basis of the number of polling companies and transactions per company.

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 a company, business area or year of interest. 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.

Section 30(b)(i) – Free and frank provision of advice

An exemption under section 30(b)(i) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. Information is exempt under section 30(b)(i) if disclosure 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. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because disclosure would enhance public scrutiny of Government decision making. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in preventing the inhibition of the free and frank provision of advice.

Section 30(b)(ii) – Free and frank exchange of views
An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. Information is exempt under sections 30(b)(ii) if disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

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 release because disclosure would enhance public scrutiny of Government decision making. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in preventing the inhibition of the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data relating to a third party
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. Information is exempt under section 38(1)(b) if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR.

The 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. Redactions have been made where this is the case.

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 202400417511 - Information Released - Annex

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102 page PDF

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1.2 MB