Publication - FOI/EIR release

Aviation Statement and Air Departure tax materials: EIR release

Published: 17 October 2024
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202400431156
Date received: 10 September 2024
Date responded: 8 October 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

1. Could you supply all documentation held, including correspondence (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, policy notes, analysis, about the Scottish Government's Aviation statement, from the last three months?

- How much did this statement cost and breakdown of these costs?

2. Could you supply all documentation held, including correspondence (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, policy notes, analysis, about air departure tax, from the last three months?

3. Could you supply all Aviation Statement drafts from between October 2023 and April 2024, and include notes from civil servants?

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.

1. I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested. 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 exemption under Regulation 11 (2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) and an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (Internal Communications) applies to some of the information you have requested.

Regulation 11 (2) provides that where the environmental information requested includes personal data about an individual other than the applicant (third party personal data), the data does not have to be made available if disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles contained in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR. As this is an absolute exemption, the public interest test does not apply.

An noted, an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs also applies to some of the information you have requested. This regulation covers internal communications which can take the form of internal email exchanges, file notes prepared for internal use, notes of meetings and documents which have been circulated internally. 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 because of the material relates to the Aviation Statement. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the Scottish Government, and those who the Scottish Government engages with, have private space within which to discuss important issues relating to the Aviation Statement. If this private space did not exist, it is likely to inhibit how engagement takes place with an adverse impact on how policy is developed.

Information out of scope has also been redacted.

In relation to Part (2) of the FMAR request, which requests information on the costs of the Aviation Statement, we are unable to provide the full cost as this mainly comprises staffing costs that we cannot quantify. We can, however, provide a record of costs in relation to certain parts of the Aviation Statement, which is shown below:

£5,510.00 – Independent analysis of responses to the Aviation Strategy consultation.
£3,397.19 – production of Aviation Strategy consultation document
£34.00 – room hire for Aviation Strategy event in Wick
£180.00 –advertising in the Caithness Courier for Aviation Strategy event in Wick
£108.00 advertising online for Aviation Strategy event in Wick
£449.85 Aviation Strategy banner
£249.58 Aviation Strategy banner 2

2. 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 exemption under section 11 (2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) and an exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Information out of scope has also been redacted.

3. 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 exemption under section 11 (2) of the EIRs (Third party personal data) applies to some of the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.