Response

The Scottish Police Authority has considered your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

The Authority can confirm that information is held. A report on the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) request for the sale of Portobello Police Station was considered by the Resources Committee on 13 August.

The report is provided with minor redaction of information considered to be exempt for the following reasons.

The information relates to a matter currently under consideration by the Scottish Government and includes financial information which is considered to be commercially confidential at this time. These exemptions require application of the public interest test which is set out later in this response.

One redaction is considered to be personal information which is exempt in terms of FOISA. This exemption is absolute and does not require application of the public interest test. While you may have a legitimate interest in disclosure of this information, it is our view that those interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subjects.

Public Interest Test

The public interest factors in favour of disclosure is that:

• This would adhere to the basic principle of being open and transparent.

The public interest factors in favour of maintaining the exemptions are:

• To disclose commercial or financial information while the matter remains subject to ongoing consideration and approval by Scottish Government may undermine the process or the outcome. The Authority is obliged to achieve ‘Best Value’ in the disposal of assets. This consideration must look at the financial impact as well as the impact on local and national priorities that contribute to the delivery of Best Value across the public sector as a whole. It is in the public interest that the balancing of these considerations can be done without undue external pressure that would result from unconfirmed figures being disclosed.

• Community Asset Transfer regulations require certain information to be published. Police Scotland manage the Community Asset Transfer process on behalf of the Authority and publish related information. As such pertinent information related to the transfer will be placed in the public domain once negotiations are concluded.

On balance, our conclusion is that maintaining the exemptions outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

An appendix to the report is considered out of scope of your request. To explain, FOISA gives a right to information rather than to copies of documents. The role of the Resources Committee was to consider Police Scotland’s recommendation to approve the sale of Portobello Police Station to Action Porty at the agreed price subject to final approval from the Scottish Government. The report provided with this response details Police Scotland’s recommendation to members of the Resources Committee, and along with discussion at the meeting, forms the basis on which a decision was made.

To assist, we can advise that Police Scotland provide certain services to the Authority, in line with legislation. This includes management of Community Asset Transfer requests and related processes. Where services like this are provided to the Authority, information may be held by Police Scotland.