Revised local income tax revenue projections – Mr Simon Johnson (Mr Johnson), the Scottish Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph, requested information relating to revised local income tax revenue projections from the Scottish Ministers (the Ministers). The Ministers withheld information on the grounds that it was exempt from disclosure under section 29(1)(a) of FOISA, which applies to any information that relates to the formulation or development of government policy.
The information withheld by the Ministers comprised a single document prepared by the Office of the Chief Economic Advisor. During the investigation, various steps were taken to establish whether any further information was held. Having reviewed a number of documents that had been considered by the Ministers and judged not to be relevant to Mr Johnson’s request, the Commissioner took the view that one document contained further information falling within the terms of his request. The Ministers indicated that they would also consider this information to be exempt in terms of section 29(1)(a) of FOISA.
The Commissioner found that the exemption in section 29(1)(a) applied to the relevant information in both of the documents under consideration. However, he concluded that the public interest in maintaining this exemption was outweighed by the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner required the Ministers to disclose the relevant information to Mr Johnson.
Citations:
[2011] ScotIC 025 – 2011
Links:
Scotland, Information
Updated: 07 September 2022; Ref: scu.433676