Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland consultation correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

1. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the offices of ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the office of the cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy regarding the consultation on Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland . Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the offices of ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the office of the cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy. Please provide this information between the dates of 5 July 2024 and 31 October 2024 inclusive.

2. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the management team at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (See here the management team, link) and the management team of the Energy and Climate Change Directorate (see the management team here link) regarding the consultation on Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the management team at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the management team of the Energy and Climate Change Directorate. Please provide this information between the dates of 5 July 2024 and 31 October 2024 inclusive.

3. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the offices of ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the management team of the Energy and Climate Change Directorate regarding the consultation on Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland . Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the offices of ministers at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the management team of the Energy and Climate Change Directorate Please provide this
information between the dates of 5 July 2024 and 31 October 2024 inclusive.

4. Any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between the management team at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (See here the management team, link) and the office of the cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy regarding the consultation on Electricity Infrastructure Consenting in Scotland. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between the management team at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the office of the cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy. Please provide this information between the dates of 5 July 2024 and 31 October 2024 inclusive.

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.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, Regulation 10(5)(a) of the EIRs allows a Scottish public authority to refuse to disclose environmental information, where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, cause substantial prejudice to one or more of the following:

• would involve making available information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially international relations, defence, national security, or public safety; and
• would not be in the public interest.

In this instance, we have concluded that releasing some of the information you requested would involve making available information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations with the UK Government, and would not be in the public interest. For these reasons, we are refusing your request under regulation 10(5)(a) of the EIRs.

Additionally, an exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information 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 - 202400438996 - Information Released - Annex A

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