Wild Salmon Strategy Meeting Minutes: EIR release

Information requested

“The minutes of the Wild Salmon Strategy Science and Evidence Board meeting of August 2023 have been posted on the Scottish Government website. The date of the following meeting was 21 November.
Please can I obtain the minutes of that meeting plus any subsequent meetings held during 2024. The minutes of the Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation plan Delivery Group form 29 November 2023 were posted on the Scottish Government website.

Please can I obtain the minutes of any subsequent meetings since November 2023."

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

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, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. Please find PDF item 1 attached.

These minutes, from the Wild Salmon Strategy Science and Evidence Board meeting on 21 November, have also now been published and are available to view on the Scottish Government website here: Wild Salmon Strategy Science and Evidence Board Minutes of Meeting 21 November 2023.

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 exception under regulation 10(4)(d) (material in course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data) of the EIRs applies to that information.

Two further meetings have taken place, with minutes taken, that are within the scope of your request:

1. A meeting of the Wild Salmon Strategy Science and Evidence Board held on 28 February 2024, and
2. A meeting of the Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation Plan Delivery Group held on 13 June 2024.

However, the meeting minutes for both meetings are still in draft and have not yet been agreed by the respective groups.

This exception 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 exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent, and accountable government, and this will be met by our planned publication of both sets of meeting minutes on 31 July 2024. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that unfinished or incomplete information which is still in being worked on or is under active consideration is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates.

As soon as the minutes have been agreed they will be available to view at the following web link: https://www.gov.scot/groups/wild-salmon-strategy-implementation-plan-delivery-group/

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.

EIR 202400421058 - Information Released - Annex

File type

3 page PDF

File size

74.1 kB