FREEDOM of information legislation has been used to try to “delegitimise” the SNP Government and “break” the system, according to ministerial advisers.
The civil servants made the claims as part of a review by the Scottish Information Commissioner, but the allegations were not included in the watchdog’s final report.
Maurice Golden, a Tory MSP and the party’s chief whip, said: “This tells you everything you need to know about the SNP’s attitude to legally-binding FOI laws. It’s a shocking point of view, and one the SNP Government must seek to change as a matter of urgency.”
However, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “These comments were made in the context of the Scottish Government receiving 723 FOI requests from political researchers in 2017, compared to 214 in 2016 – a rise of 238 per cent. Almost half of these were received from three opposition researchers during the second half of 2017.
“During this period one researcher submitted 12 separate requests on tax matters over five days, which had a significant impact on a single finance team while they were simultaneously preparing the draft budget.”
Under Holyrood’s groundbreaking FOI law, individuals have a right to recorded information held by hundreds of public bodies north of the border. Taxpayer-funded bodies can only block the release of information if it is covered by an exemption.
However, journalists last year signed an open letter about the way the Scottish Government was dealing with FOI requests. In response, the Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry, whose office adjudicates on FOI disputes, undertook an assessment into the Government “practice and performance” in relation to the law.
In a damning report, he revealed that journalists, MSPs and political researchers are “expressly” subject to a different clearance process for their requests.
He said this was “inconsistent with the applicant-blind principle of FOI legislation”, adding: "In a number of 2016 and 2017 cases I observed unjustifiable, significant delays and disregard for the statutory timescales.”
One of Fitzhenry’s recommendations was for the Government to end its practice of treating journalists and others differently when processing their requests.
The SIC report was welcomed across the political divide, but a draft version revealed heavy criticism by SNP Government special advisers – who are appointed to serve the First Minister and her colleagues – of some FOI use.
The draft stated: “Despite FOI being taken seriously, it was concerning, during interviews, to hear of some FOI use being described as 'malicious' or of requests being used to 'delegitimise Government'."
An email from the Government to the SIC raised a “slight concern” about the quotes which, while “accurate”, related to a “massive increase in requests” from political researchers. The Commissioner’s office promised to “certainly” look at the relevant paragraph, after which it was deleted.
The SIC has since published the interviews carried as part of the assessment, which reveal the opinions of ministers and special advisers.
Asked whether the current FOI system was working, Colin McAllister, a special adviser who works closely with Education Secretary John Swinney, said:
“It’s working far better than it did – even a couple of years ago. The volume was causing the system to creak. Some FOI use was malicious. We have seen a deluge of pointless FOI requests to try and break the system – eg. those received by the budget team.”
David Hutchison, a special adviser who is known for his knowledge of FOI issues, was also interviewed. He said: “There can be a concern that FOI can be used as a way to use SG resource, or to delegitimise the role in Government of considering FOIs.”
He added that secondary legislation could be passed to clarify the definition of “vexatious” requests, but noted that such a move would be “politically difficult”.
Cabinet secretaries interviewed as part of the assessment included Swinney and Fiona Hyslop, as well as Shona Robison and Keith Brown, who are no longer in Government.
A spokesperson for the SIC said: “Prior to publication, the Commissioner took the view that the quotes did indeed lack appropriate context. The quotes had been made in the context of an increase in requests from political researchers targeted on specific areas.
“The Commissioner considered that the final sentence should be deleted to ensure the report was accurate. He was satisfied that the key point – i.e. that a cultural shift was needed throughout the Scottish Government – was adequately covered in the amended paragraph.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel