Commonwealth Games correspondence with the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: FOI release

Information requested

1. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the office of the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport regarding the 2026 Commonwealth games. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the Cabinet Secretary’s office and the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 April 2024 and 18 September 2024 inclusive.

2. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the office of the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport and the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport regarding the 2026 Commonwealth games. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the Cabinet Secretary’s office and the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 April 2024 and 18 September 2024 inclusive.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you 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 exemptions under sections 28(1) (relations within the United Kingdom), and 38(1) (b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

An exemption under section 28(1) of FOISA (relations within the United Kingdom) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because it relates to interactions and processes between the UK and Scottish Government administrations and Ministers that have subsequent impacts on the formulation of government policy. Releasing this information would likely prejudice relations within the UK and specifically between the UK and Scottish Government administrations, resulting in a deterioration in information sharing and open and honest discussion and debate.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. We recognise that there is a strong argument for transparency in government and any resulting policies that affect the public. However, disclosure would be likely to prejudice relations within the UK and specifically between the UK and Scottish Government administrations. This in turn could have longer term consequences and impacts on discussions and policy decisions of a similar nature between the administrations and Ministers in the future. 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.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to sections of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e names and 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.

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.

FOI 202400432545 - Information released - Annex

File type

2 page PDF

File size

185.3 kB