Publication - FOI/EIR release

Timescale for passage of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill: FOI release

Published: 4 January 2024
Directorate: Safer Communities Directorate
Topic: Public sector
FOI reference: 202300347322
Date received: 15 March 2023
Date responded: 12 May 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

A copy of all advice and ministerial or senior civil service decisions taken with regard to the timescales through which the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill was taken through the Scottish Parliament, with particular consideration for the associated risks or reasons why this should not have been pursued. This should include submissions to ministers and their responses, a note of any meetings which were held to discuss this issue, email chains between officials which discuss the timescales and associated risks of these, and any official documents, whether produced for internal or external consumption, produced regarding these timescales, and any drafts or notes. I would ask that any further information which is relevant to this query is also included.

Response

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

The enclosed Annex lists the documents which are being released. You may notice that the items being released are numbered between 1 and 107, which suggests that a large number of documents have been withheld. However, the documents were numbered before they were assessed to consider whether the information they contained was within scope of your request or not. 79 documents were found to be within scope and of those 41 are now being released.

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 25(1) (information otherwise accessible), s29(1)(a) (policy formulation), s30(c) substantial prejudice to public affairs, s36(1) (confidentiality of legal proceedings) and s38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

Exemptions 25(1), 29(1)(a), 30(c) and 36(1) are all 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 of an interest in the transparent operation of government. However, this is outweighed by the benefit of allowing government business to proceed effectively, particularly in the open and frank sharing of advice and testing of opinions when developing complex policy and legislation. In the case of 25(1) there is little public benefit in releasing documents which are already publicly available online.

Exemption 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.

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