Publication - FOI/EIR release

Jason Leitch resignation and United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) funding: FOI release

Published: 8 May 2024
Directorate: External Affairs Directorate
Part of: International, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202400405222
Date received: 19 March 2024
Date responded: 17 April 2024

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

Information requested

The following questions regarding Clinical Director Jason Leitch and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA):

Could you supply all correspondence sent and received by the Scottish Government, including internally, all briefings, notes and minutes from meetings, about the resignation of Jason Leitch, between 1 January 2024 and the date of this FOI?
Is Jason Leitch eligible for resignation pay, and if so, how much is he eligible for?
How much money has the Scottish Government or its umbrella bodies, including the NHS, given to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the last five years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), with a breakdown per year and what the money was spent on?
Could you supply all the correspondence between Humza Yousaf and Stephen Kerr regarding the UNRWA, including internal correspondence, between 1 February 2024 and the date of this FOI?
Could you supply the rationale for Humza Yousaf to override official advice to fund UNICEF and direct the money to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and could you supply any analysis done by the Scottish Government on UNRWA to decide if they were a suitable organisation to send money to? If this has not been done, why?
Did Humza Yousaf Yousaf discuss the "publicity impact" of the funding announcement with UNRWA officials, and if so could you provide this? And could you provide any correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UK Foreign Office about this decision to hand UNRWA £250,000?
Could you supply any correspondence between Angus Robertson, the Scottish Government and the UK Government, including internal correspondence, regarding the UK pausing funding for UNRWA, from between 1 February 2024 and the date of this FOI?

Response

1. We have answered part of this request in a previous FOI response which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400404239/. This covers correspondence leading up to notification of Jason Leitch’s intention to resign through to the issue of the press release on 12 March 2024. The documents attached in Annex A are those between 12 March 2024 and the date of your request. Please note we have taken a reasonable interpretation of the request and have sought responses only from those who are likely to have sent or received correspondence relating to Jason Leitch’s resignation.

2. We are unable to provide an answer to this question as Jason Leitch resigned from his employer Board, NHS Tayside, not the Scottish Government.

3. We are only able to comment on information that falls within the remit of Scottish Government. Any matters outwith should be referred to the relevant bodies. Some of the information is published here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-agreement-with-institute-for healthcareimprovement- foi-release/. These payments were for specialist quality improvement services commissioned under a framework agreement subject to competition and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

4. I have attached in Annex B a letter sent from Stephen Kerr to the First Minister on 12 March 2024. In addition, while not within the scope of your request, in order to be helpful, you may wish to be aware that the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development responded to Mr Kerr’s letter on 9 April 2024. I have attached this letter in Annex C.

5. The First Minister did not override official advice. Correspondence between the First Minister and other parties regarding UNRWA has previously been released and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400398300/. The information relating to the second part of your question has been released in a previous FOI response and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202400396149-2/.

6. The First Minister did not discuss the "publicity impact" of the funding announcement with UNRWA officials. I have attached in Annex D the correspondence between the Scottish Government and the FCDO about the Scottish Government donations to UNRWA.

7. I have attached in Annex E a letter from Cabinet Secretary Robertson to the FCDO Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, dated 26 February 2024. I have attached in Annex F correspondence between the Scottish Government and the FCDO about the pausing of UK donations to UNRWA.

Section 25(1) – Information otherwise accessible
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain the information from the websites listed above, please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal information
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party (i.e. 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.