The Scottish Government has responded to a request for the publication of ‘Any correspondence (e-mails and letters) from the public to MSPs… regarding the Historic Environment Scotland [HES] site closures from 7 June 2021 to present’.
… we do not hold correspondence received by all SNP and Green MSPs…
Scottish Government writes:
Please find enclosed a copy of all the correspondence regarding Historic Environment Scotland site closures from the public that we hold which was sent to MSPs in the Scottish Government, in their Ministerial capacity, between 7 June 2021 and 12 September 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, we understand a member of the “public” to mean regular citizens, and not individuals or agents acting in an official capacity.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. The reason for this is because the Scottish Government only holds correspondence sent to Scottish Ministers, i.e. MSPs who have a portfolio role (Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers). Therefore, we do not hold correspondence received by all SNP and Green MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. Please also be aware that the Scottish Government only holds correspondence sent to Scottish Ministers in their Ministerial capacity. We do not hold correspondence sent in their constituency capacity.
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 section 38(1)(b) (third party data) of FOISA apply to that information.
Exemptions
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal data of a third party) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested, as disclosure would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation. 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….
