Correspondence on a Water Bill: EIR release

Information requested

• Any internal Scottish Government communications (including emails / letters) concerning a 'Water Bill'.
• Any Scottish Government briefings produced on the subject of a 'Water Bill', and the minutes of any meetings in which this subject was discussed.

In both cases, you would like this information from the beginning of July 2024 up to 20 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.

Response to your request

As background to your request, Scottish Government Water Industry Unit has been carrying out a review of legislation and policy related to the water sector in Scotland, following a commitment in programme for Government 2023. This has included policy review and development on the areas of
Water Resources Planning, Drinking Water, Wastewater and Drainage, and modernisation of the existing legislation relating to the Water Industry and water and wastewater services.

A public consultation on policy principles was undertaken from November 2023 to February 2024, (Water, wastewater and drainage policy: consultation - gov.scot). with a consultation analysis report published in July 2024: Water, wastewater and drainage: consultation analysis - gov.scot. This will not apply in Scotland, as water and wastewater are a devolved matter.

In terms of a UK context, water is considered a high priority for the new UK Government, made clear through the early introduction of a new Water (Special Measures) Bill going through UK government (Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL] - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament).

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

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. I can confirm that all redactions in the document relate to personal information, other than agenda items on page 35 which is information out with the scope of the request.

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. As this request relates to an ongoing live issue, and there is a need for free and frank exchanges between officials and Minister to allow Ministers to agree SG policy, this exception applies as this relates to these internal communications.

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 public and press interest in the Water Industry. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in providing the space for free and frank exchanges between officials and Ministers on this policy area.

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 202400441672 - Information Released - Annex

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