Information which is the subject of the request

A breakdown of each expense type incurred by Iain Gray MSP under each allowance heading for the 1999 to 2003 parliamentary session and from May 2007 to date of your request.

Exemption(s)

Section 25 - Information otherwise accessible

Section 27 (1) of the Act - information intended for future publication

Section 38(1)(b) and 38(2)(a) of the Act (Personal Information)

Why exemption(s) applies

Section 25

The information we would disclose in respect of the period May 2007 to 31/12/2007 is available on the Scottish Parliament's website and can therefore be reasonably obtained other than by requesting it under section 1(1) of the Act and is therefore exempt information under section 25.

Section 27(1)

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body plans to publish the information we would disclose in relation to the period 01/01/2008 to 30/06/2008 within the next twelve weeks on the Scottish Parliament's website. It is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information be withheld from disclosure until then since preparations for this publication are ongoing.

Section 38

In relation to the information provided in respect of the financial years 2001/2002 to 2003/2004 we have redacted staff salary, employers pension and national insurance contributions as we consider that this information amounts to personal information which is exempt under section 38(1)(b) of the Act.

Section 38(1) (b) exempts personal data from disclosure where disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998.

The withheld information is personal data relating to members of Mr Gray's staff (the data subjects). Release of the information would breach the first data protection principle of fair and lawful processing as the data subjects have a reasonable expectation that the information will not be released. It would therefore be unfair to disclose the information under the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.

The information is therefore exempt by virtue of section 38(1)(b) and 38(2)(a) of the Act. The same exemption applies to the corresponding information relating to the period from May 2007. Accordingly that information either has been, or will, be, excluded from the published allowances information for this period.

Public interest (where relevant)

The public interest in maintaining the section 27 exemption pending publication outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure. The public interest in openness will be served by the publication of the information when it is published and searchable on the Parliament's website. It is not in the public interest that the scheduled publication of information should be pre-empted by an individual request.