Access to information rights: consultation analysis

2. Analysis of responses

2.1 Overview

15. The consultation was principally a vehicle for engagement with communities and interested stakeholders in Scotland about the future development of the access to information rights regime. It was aimed at gathering further views on a range of distinct areas highlighted by the Committee.

16. The sections below summarise the responses to the specific questions in the consultation. In addition, during the period the consultation was open, the Scottish Government held three round table engagement events on the key themes of the consultation: proactive publication, agility of rights and keeping rights fit for purpose. These events were attended by approximately 30 stakeholders and key outcomes from each of the discussions were circulated to attendees for comment prior to analysis. The qualitative analysis of the key themes which emerged includes a consideration of the topics covered in the engagement sessions by contributors.

17. We received 83 written consultation responses with 70 of these being submitted by organisations. Of these, 35 were from organisations which are themselves Scottish public authorities, with obligations under current FOI law. The other 35 were from a variety of third sector, civil society and other organisations in Scotland.

18. A list of organisations who responded is provided in Annex A.