Communication questions regarding Scottish Government: FOI release

Please find answers to each of your questions below:

1. Is the person answering this pro or anti Scottish Independence? (I have purposely not asked any PII that risks avoidance of this question)

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because it does not routinely record the political viewpoints of civil servants. You are entitled to be given information held by the Scottish Government at the time when you made your request, but the Scottish Government has no duty to obtain information which it does not hold in order to answer your request. Additionally, the civil servant responding to this request is not obliged to provide this information in order to answer your question.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

It may also be helpful if I explain that civil servants must adhere to the Civil Service Code which requires civil servants to operate with political impartiality. You can read the Civil Service Code here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/civil-service-code/

2. How many people are tasked with the responsibility of answering FOI requests sent to ceu@gov.scot?

Requests received through ceu@gov.scot (or any other route) are generally handled by staff in the Directorate with responsibility for the information requested. Requests are directly handled by designated case handlers of which there are 241 identified across the Scottish Government at the point you made your request. This figure does not include case handlers in executive agencies.

There is also a central FOI Unit that plays a role in monitoring and providing advice about case handling. The FOI Unit consists of 15 staff.

However, while the designated case handlers take responsibility for managing the process, all Scottish Government staff have a responsibility to search for, collate and provide information in support of responding to the request as required.

There is no single point of contact for all print and digital media productsand content on gov.scot originates from across the organisation and portfolios. Queries about specific content or media can be directed to the Central Enquiries Unit (ceu@gov.scot) and will then be directed to the most appropriate part of the Scottish Government.

4. Does the Scottish govt directly or indirectly (e.g. through scot.gov) hire any editors, journalists or suchlike to collate facts into easy to digest print and digital media? (in the same manner as all the UK govt websites collate a mixture of facts and debunked inaccuracies)

Yes. Content Managers, who are civil servants, provide editorial support for publishing certain content to gov.scot, and they work to ensure information is user focussed. There will be colleagues across the organisation who are working on content in various ways who generate large volumes of information.

a. How can I communicate directly with this person or people if different than Question 3?

As with question 3, specific queries can be directed through Central Enquiries Unit (ceu@gov.scot) and will then be directed to the most appropriate part of the Scottish Government.

5. What is the process for independently created reports and other material that collates facts and figures to be published on scot.gov and other govt websites for the benefit of delivering clear, concise and easy to digest factually based information to the Scottish people?

The Scottish Government does not routinely publish independently created reports, although if we commission independent research, the resulting report would be subject to the same processes as all other Scottish Government publications. The Scottish Government uses a Publishing, Print and Design framework as the main route through which reports are published. You can find details of the publication framework here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/publishing-print-design-framework/. Through the framework, reports are made suitable for publication on gov.scot.

6. How do I arrange a phone interview with a manager or other authority in charge of media publications by the Scottish govt to be able to have a 20 to 30 min Question and answer session?

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because no specific process exists. No one part of the Scottish Government retains ownership of media publications (policy areas will often take ownership of this process themselves). This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

If you have a query about a specific publication then you could route this through Central Enquiries Unit who will direct it to the appropriate policy area.