Lady Haldane's opinion on the petition for Women Scotland LTD for judicial review: FOI release

Information requested

• Are you able to release any external or internal legal advice to Ministers following Lady Haldane's opinion on the petition of For Women Scotland Ltd for judicial review of the revised statutory guidance produced by the Scottish Ministers under section 7 of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018?
• Are you able to release any minutes, memos, notes, emails, agendas, attachments and correspondence about Lady Haldane's opinion on the petition of For Women Scotland Ltd for judicial review of the revised statutory guidance produced by the Scottish Ministers under section 7 of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018?

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested as a PDF.

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 exemptions under sections s.38(1)(b) (personal information) and s.36(1) (confidentiality of communications) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why those exemptions apply are explained below.

Exemptions under sections 36(1) and 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This is because much of the information requested includes legal advice and the information is subject to legal professional privilege. Section 38(1)(b) applies because personal data is included in the information requested.

Section 38(1)(b) 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.

Section 36(1) 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 recognise that there is some public interest in release because particular public interest in related issues. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between a legal adviser and their client during ongoing legal proceedings.

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.

Attachment - 202300337958

File type

9 page PDF

File size

109.9 kB