Scottish Government meetings with foreign representatives: FOI release

Information requested

A list of foreign officials/representatives, as well as the country and organisation which they represent, that have met with the Scottish Government since October 2023. If it is not possible to release the names of the individuals, their country and the organisation that they represent will be sufficient. If it is not possible to release the name of any individual and their organisation, then their country will suffice.

Response

As your request refers to “the Scottish Government”, this is understood to relate to both the meetings of Ministers and officials. With regards to Ministers, some of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. Details of all Ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government and this transparency data can be accessed via this weblink: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). 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.

This is a formal notice that Section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. The information requested will be published within 12 weeks of your request and will be available at the link above. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, with regards to Scottish Government officials’ meetings with “foreign officials/representatives”, the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have asked for because we do not maintain a list of such meetings. Public authorities are not required to create information in order to answer a request, so this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Additional information

By way of explanation, please note that the Scottish Government undertakes engagement with international interlocutors "foreign officials/representatives" as per your request] across almost all policy areas in order to incorporate learning from international best practice during policy development and formulation. Given the subsequent scale, frequency and breadth of engagement, the Scottish Government does not maintain a "list" of all such official level engagements.

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.