Kevin Stewart's meetings: FOI review

Information requested

You asked for a review of review of our response to your request for:

All internal and external correspondence within and sent or received by the Scottish Governmentincluding attached documents, meeting handouts, memos, briefings to ministers,attendee lists, locationof meeting, notes, minutes, or OneNote memos, linked to the following meetings:

1a) Kevin Stewart's meeting with IJB Chief Officers on July 18, 2022
1b) Kevin Stewart's meeting with People with Lived Experience on July 25, 2022.

Response

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

In regards to the planned timeline for the NCS, which you refer to in your review request email, I have reviewed this and uphold the redaction of this document but have concluded that a different exemption should apply. I am removing our reliance on the exemption at 29(1)(a) and instead am applying the exemption at section 30(b)(i) (substantial inhibition to the provision of free and frank advice) of FOISA.

This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. 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.

I have also concluded that the redaction of the ‘statement of intent’ draft document under section 29(1) (a) should be removed as it reflects much of the published document, shared with you in your original request. Therefore I have released this information and I enclose an updated copy of that document. I would advise that some of the commentary from internal Scottish Government colleagues has been redacted under section 30(b)(i) (substantial inhibition to the provision of free and frank advice) of FOISA. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. 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.

We have upheld the decision to partially redact the integration briefing document but have concluded that the use of section 29(1)(a) should be removed and the redaction fall under section 30(b)(i) (substantial inhibition to the provision of free and frank advice) of FOISA. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice. 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.

Where I have released additional information to you, personal data – the names of individuals - has been withheld under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA. Disclosing this information 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 exemption 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 exemption.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300337433 - Information released (a)

File type

15 page PDF

File size

183.7 kB

FOI 202300337433 - Information released (b)

File type

22 page PDF

File size

309.7 kB