FOI Request - Review of 101003681582 Apps and AI Software

Request 101003693098

Review of 101003681582 Apps and AI Software

I am not satisfied with your response to points 3 and 4 of my request.

I do not consider that the stated exemptions apply.

I hereby request a review of your response under FOISA.

Response 03-02-2025

Following your request for a review (our ref: 101003693098) of your Freedom of Information (FOI) Request Apps and AI Software ref: 101003681582, a review meeting was held on 24th January 2025. In attendance were the Information Governance Manager and Data Protection Officer, Learning Technologist, Solicitor, and Information Co-ordinator.

Your FOI Request from 4th December 2024 was discussed.

We reviewed our response of 3rd January 2025 for question 3 and question 4 of your FOI, including the application of exemptions under Section 33(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act – that disclosure would (or would be likely to) prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person or organisation, and under Section 30 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs. The Panel confirmed that these exemptions still apply.

We confirm that our response should have included the Public Interest Test; we apologise for that omission. It was felt that the public interest does not outweigh the requirement to apply the above exemptions, since DPIAs are likely to contain sensitive commercial information as they may include financial costings and, at times, personal information relating to specific users. Furthermore, if DPIAs were to be released, this would require staff to manually check through 120+ documents. This task would cost the Council in excess of £600 of staff time, therefore in accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (excessive cost), this information would be exempt.