Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2021 and 2022 correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

1. All correspondence from/to Gillian Martin regarding the content of the ministerial statement from the 19th September 2024 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2021 and 2022?

2. All correspondence from/to Gillian Martin regarding the discovery of the factual errors regarding emission reductions targets and peatland figures that were the focus of the ministerial statement from the 19th September 2024 - Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2021 and 2022?

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.

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(s) under regulation(s) of the EIRs applies to that information.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested, as the information is internal communications between Scottish Government officials and Scottish Ministers.

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 interest in an open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in consideration when private space to discuss topics at preliminary stages is required.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because it is personal data of a third party 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 exception 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 exception.

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.

EIR 202400432944 - Information for Release - Annex

File type

17 page PDF

File size

308.8 kB