ScotWind leasing round correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

For the period 26th May 2020 to 17th January 2022, please provide a list of all meetings (in person or virtual) involving Ministers or Cabinet Secretaries which discussed the ScotWind leasing round. For each meeting, please provide the date of the meeting, a list of participants, and the minutes of the meeting.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested including a list of documents with the date of each meeting, a list of participants, and the corresponding meeting minutes.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because no formal record was kept of some of the meetings within scope of your request, and as a result, we are unable to provide the specific details you have asked for.

Additionally, you may find it helpful to visit the Scottish Government’s website, where information about Ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel, and gifts received are available. https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs also applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception allows a Scottish public authority to withhold internal communications. The reasons for applying this exemption are set out below.

Paragraph 6.1 of the Scottish Ministerial Code provides that "the privacy of opinions expressed and advice offered within the Government should be maintained" at all times. Cabinet papers (including Cabinet minutes and agendas) are essential elements which support and assist collective discussion in the private space which Ministers need to reach agreed positions.

The weekly meeting of the Scottish Cabinet is the highest decision-making forum within the Scottish Government, and it follows that all information considered by Cabinet must be handled with great care. Properly functioning Cabinet processes are generally recognised to be of vital public interest. Cabinet government is based on the principle of collective responsibility, which the Scottish Ministerial Code defines in the following terms:

"The principle of collective responsibility requires that Ministers should be able to express their views frankly in the expectation that they can argue freely in private while maintaining a united front when decisions have been reached. This in turn requires that the privacy of opinions expressed and advice offered within the Government should be maintained… The internal processes through which a Government decision has been made should not normally be disclosed."

(Scottish Ministerial Code, 2024 edition, paragraphs 6.1 and 6.4)

Cabinet papers (including Cabinet minutes and agendas) are invariably produced on the assumption that they will not be disclosed until a significant amount of time has elapsed.

We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in maintaining the process of achieving collective responsibility within a private space within which policy positions can be explored and refined by Ministers in order that the Government, as a whole, can reach a final decision. This private thinking space also allows for all options to be properly considered, so that good policy decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers, which in turn will undermine the quality of the policy-/decisionmaking process.

Furthermore, an exception under regulations 11(2) and 10(5)(e) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. Disclosure of this information would breach data protection principles (regulation 11(2)) and could harm legitimate economic interests (regulation 10(5)(e)).

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.

The exception under Regulation 10(5)(e) is subject to the 'public interest test'. We have carefully considered whether the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. After weighing all the circumstances, we have concluded that, on balance, the public interest favours upholding the exception. While we acknowledge the public interest in transparency, particularly regarding matters that could affect environmental or public policy decisions, this is outweighed by the public interest in protecting commercially sensitive information. Disclosure of the information could harm legitimate economic interests, weaken the competitive position of the involved parties, and result in financial loss or reputational damage.

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 202400442008 - Information released - Annex

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