Communications regarding bird flu outbreak and control zones imposed around Kirkcudbright in 2023: EIR release

Information requested

Any communications, reports and other materials held about the bird flu outbreak and control zones imposed around Kirkcudbright in 2023.

Please ensure any communications are dated and displayed in chronological order, that media such as images and video are included, and all forms of communications, including Whatsapp, are provided.

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

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

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: reg 11(2)- (personal information of third parties) and reg 10(5)(e)- (commercial interest) of the EIRs apply to that information. The reasons why that exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

Following exceptions apply:

Regulation 11(2) – personal data of a third party

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, such as: names, email addresses, post addresses, etc. 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.

Regulation 10(5)(e) – substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial or industrial information

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would mean making public sensitive commercial information which could prejudice commercial business interests. This could subsequently discourage reporting of notifiable disease, potentially undermining SG disease control activities

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, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which suffer a disease outbreak in order to encourage reporting and thereby allowing Scottish Government to detect notifiable disease quickly and prevent the spread of the disease.

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 202400443394 - Information Released - Documentation

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