First Minister meeting with President Erdogan of Turkey during Cop 28: FOI release

Information requested

If you could provide copies of all correspondence and messages, including emails and WhatsApps, regarding the invitation and arrangements for the First Minister to meet President Erdogan of Turkey during Cop 28. Please also include any correspondence with the UK Government and any briefings prepared for the First Minister ahead of the talks.

Response

Exemptions under sections S.32(1)a and S.38(1)b of FOISA apply to some of the information you have requested. Further information on the exemptions applied can be found below.

Briefing document

In relation to the briefing you have requested, we have released the document as it is in scope of your request. However, please note that the document is still in a draft state - it was never finalised, it was not cleared by senior officials or used to brief the First Minister ahead of his meeting with President Erdogan.

Section 32 (1) a

An exemption under section 32 (1 ) (a) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government cannot release the requested information in case of substantial prejudice to international relations.

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 recognise that there is some public interest in this release because the public will be interested in correspondence and discussions between the Scottish Government and another government. However, this interest would be outweighed by the essential need (and therefore public interest) in ensuring that good diplomatic relations are maintained with another country by respecting the confidentiality with which discussions and correspondence were undertaken.

This exemption has also been applied to some text held within the briefing you requested. We have determined that the release of this information could also risk damaging international relations, and therefore found that when subjected to the public interest test, the exemption should be upheld.

Section 38 (1) b

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested.

This is because it is personal data of a third party, ie names/contact details of individuals, 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 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 202300388013 - Information Released - Documents

File type

24 page PDF

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838.9 kB