Details of Cabinet meetings: FOI release

Information requested

1. How often does the Cabinet meet and for how long?

2. Is an agenda always circulated in advance and is that publicly available?

3. Is a minute always taken and, if so, is that publicly available?

4. What Committees have been established and what information about them is publicly available?

5. Which Ministers, Committees or other groups are required to report regularly to the Cabinet?

Response

The answers to these questions are provided below.

1. When the Scottish Parliament is sitting, Cabinet meets every Tuesday morning. It will also meet in Parliamentary recesses as required. The length of meetings varies according to the agenda. Cabinet may meet on other occasions as circumstances require.

2. An agenda is circulated in advance of each Cabinet meeting. As with all Cabinet papers, Cabinet agendas are published after 15 years has elapsed, in line with the Scottish Government’s commitment to proactively release archived records after this length of time.

3. Minutes are taken of all Cabinet meetings. As with all Cabinet papers, Cabinet minutes are published after 15 years has elapsed.

4. For this question, I have assumed that you are referring to Cabinet Sub-Committees. There is one Cabinet Sub-Committee currently operating: the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation. This subcommittee has delegated authority from Cabinet to take decisions on legislative matters which do not require full Cabinet clearance. Papers considered by this sub-committee are also published after 15 years has elapsed.

5. Along with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, all Cabinet Secretaries and the Minister for Parliamentary Business attend Cabinet each week to update Cabinet on developments in their portfolios. Decisions of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation are reported to Cabinet in correspondence.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.