Ministerial meetings about deposit return scheme: EIR release

Information requested

On the 25 January 2022 the Scottish Government released a list of meetings relating to the deposit return scheme attended by the circular economy minister, Lorna Slater, since she was appointed in August 2021 (your reference 202100267407). The list as released is attached.

Please could the government now supply copies of the minutes, or readouts, from the following meetings:

• 23/09/21 with the minister, Grisewood and McFarlane
• 07/10/21 with Grisewood, Huyton, Circularity Scotland and others
• 07/10/21 with Matheson, Quinlan, Grisewood, Huyton and others
• 04/11/21 with Grisewood, Huyton, Circularity Scotland and others
• 15/11/21 with Scottish Grocers’s Federation
• 15/11/21 with Tesco
• 16/11/21 with Circularity Scotland
• 23/11/21 with the First Minister

Response

I have enclosed some of the information you requested.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some 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.

An exception under 10(4)(e) - Internal communications and under regulation 10(5)(f) of the EIRs applies to some of the information you have requested. The provider of some of the information has denied consent for it to be released to the public.

These exceptions are 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. However, this is outweighed by the need to protect the ability for confidential information to be discussed internally. There is also a need to protect information being shared by a Minister and stakeholder and that the person did not supply the information in circumstances such that it would be made available to the public.

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.

EIR - 202200279512 - DRS meeting minutes

File type

8 page PDF

File size

530.5 kB