Correspondence regarding Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government letter: FOI release

Information requested

All correspondence - including letters, emails or any other electronic communications as well as the minutes of any minutes - between the cabinet secretary for finance and any other ministers regarding her letter of August 9 on the Scottish Government's financial position: updated actions required for resource and capital budgets.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we have only been able to partly provide the information you have requested as found in the supporting Annexes to this letter. The Annexes are made up as follows –

• Annex A(1) – Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government Letter of 9th August
• Annex B(1) – Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care response
• Annex C – Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs response
• Annex D – Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero response
• Annex E - Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands response

Cabinet Secretary for Transport also responded to the letter and this has already been disclosed in response to an earlier request. To confirm, not all Cabinet Secretaries responded to the letter.

Exemptions have been applied to parts of the information requested under sections 25(1), 29(1)(a), 30(b)(ii) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA. A description of each of these is provided below, along with our reasoning for applying them.

An exemption under section 25(1) of FOISA (information otherwise accessible) applies to some of the information requested because it relates to agreed savings that have now been disclosed as part of the Fiscal Statement Letter of 3rd September to the Finance and Public Administration Committee (FPAC). Information on all agreed savings can be found at the following link –
Scottish Government Fiscal Statement Letter of 3 September 2024 | Scottish Parliament Website.

An exemption under section 29(1)(a) of FOISA (formulation or development of government policy) applies to parts of the information requested because it relates to the development of the Scottish Government’s policy. This is because decisions taken regarding any further saving options related to spend in the current financial year, remain under consideration and could proceed at a later point depending on the Scottish Government financial position which could be impacted by external factors, particularly decisions taken by the UK Government with impacts on consequentials. Where final decisions on savings result in transfers between budget lines these will be communicated to Parliament as part of the Autumn and Spring Budget Revisions.

An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) (free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views) applies to parts of the information requested because it relates to the exchange of views and advice for the purposes of discussion and deliberation in the normal course of government business.
There needs to be an environment whereby opinions and options can be discussed freely on financial matters to inform decision making. Disclosure of such exchanges is likely to inhibit such helpful discussions and deliberations going forward. Similar to exemption under section 29(1)(a) where final decisions on savings result in transfers between budget lines these will be communicated to Parliament as part of the Autumn and Spring Budget Revisions.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal data relating to a third party) applies to parts of the information requested as well.

Both exemptions under section 29(1)(a) and 30(b)(ii) are 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. While we recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of an open, transparent and accountable government we consider in this instance that this is outweighed in terms of public interest by the need to allow Ministers a space where they can freely consider and discuss the policy options available to them.
This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on the further savings are to be disclosed in the near future, when it may undermine or constrain the Government’s view on that policy while it is still under discussion and development.

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 202400435900 - Information Released - Annex

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