Publication - FOI/EIR release

Salmon farming briefing notes provided to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands: EIR release

Published: 17 January 2025
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Marine and fisheries, Public sector
FOI reference: EIR/202400440742
Date received: 14 November 2024
Date responded: 12 December 2024

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

Information requested

Full briefing notes provided to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands in preparation for her appearance at the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee follow-up inquiry into salmon farming on Wednesday 13 November 2024.

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.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the Official report of the 13 November 2024 of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee on the Scottish Parliament’s website: Rural Affairs and Islands Committee 28th Meeting, 2024 | Scottish Parliament Website. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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 exceptions under regulations 10(4)(d) (unfinished or incomplete information), 10(4)(e) (internal communications), 10(5)(f) (third party interests) and 11(2) (personal data of a third party) of the EIRs applies to that information. The reasons why those exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

There are two clarifications to make regarding the information released:

For clarification, the third inspection at Mowi’s Seaforth site as described in the release titled ‘202400440742, Item 2 for release - RAI committee 13 November - Additional briefing’ took place in May 2024, not June 2024.
For clarification, the initial mortalities at Mowi’s Seaforth site as described in the release titled ‘202400440742, Item 2 for release - RAI committee 13 November - Additional briefing’ were reported as related to low oxygen levels with the presence of AGD. At the time the industry in general was experiencing problems with jellyfish blooms, although in the case of the Seaforth site it was the proximate mortality causes that were reflected in Fish Health Inspectorate case notes.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 10(4)(d) (unfinished or incomplete information) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested because three of the internal, draft (incomplete) documents within the scope of your request have been withheld in full. The reason for this is, that at the time of your request, the final versions of all these documents were all completed. Therefore, we have instead released copies of these – the final briefing items in all cases where a draft internal document has been withheld.

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 as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and this has been met by release of the final versions of the documents to you. However, for the draft versions, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that incomplete information is not disclosed when it might misinform the public or give a misleading impression of the Government’s view or position on the matter to which the information relates and which was incomplete.

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) (internal communications) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because releasing this information is likely to substantially inhibit the future provision of free and frank advice to 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 releasing all of the information in scope. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s policy. Disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy and decision-making process, which would not be in the public interest.

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 10(5)(f) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because releasing this information would, or would be likely to prejudice substantially the interests of third parties who provided that information to the Scottish Government.

They:

were not under any legal obligation to give us that information;
did not supply it in circumstances in which it could, apart from the EIRs, be made available; and
have not consented to disclosure.

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 a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the interests of anyone who provides the Scottish Government with information on a confidential basis. Disclosing such information against the express wishes of the stakeholder is likely to undermine their trust in the Government and make them reluctant in future to share information with us on issues such as aquaculture developments. This would significantly impair the Scottish Government’s ability to develop policies and make decisions on the basis of fully informed advice and evidence.

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal data of a third party) 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.

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