Freedom of Information policy proposals and reform: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much money has been spent on the Scottish Government looking into FOI reform over the last five years, with a breakdown of each year and what the money has been spent on?

2. How many consultations has the government published about this topic and similar FOI reform over the last ten years, with a list of these?

3. All briefings prepared for ministers regarding the restrictions of FOI reform between January 2023 and the date of this FOI.

Response

In regard to the first part of your request, the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because costs associated with looking into FOI reform chiefly relate to staff time expended on this activity, and we do not have any record of the staff time spent, either in total or on specific tasks, which would allow us to extrapolate a financial estimate of cost. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

I can advise that at official level, the lead on FOI policy has sat with the Scottish Government's Freedom of Information Unit for the duration of the period covered by your request. Over most of the period to which you refer there have been 2-3 staff members within the Unit whose roles have had a specific FOI policy related aspect. However, activity relating to FOI policy work has also involved the input of colleagues in various other parts of the organisation e.g. housing policy colleagues in relation to the extension of FOISA to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in 2019.

I can also advise that, as referred to in one of the release documents, in the 2019-20 financial year the Scottish Government transferred £160k to the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body to cover the 'year one' additional resource requirements arising from extension of FOISA to RSLs. I do not consider this information to be directly relevant to your request, since this was expenditure arising from a decision toextend FOISA rather than an expense of looking into extension and/or wider reform. However, I note it here for the sake of completeness.

In relation to the second part of your request I have understood your request to relate to any public consultation document the Scottish Government has published since 27 November 2013 (ten years prior to the date of your request) with a principal focus on FOI policy issues. I can confirm that the Scottish Government has published six such consultations in the relevant time period, further details of which can be found at the relevant links on the Scottish Government's Citizen Space website:

• Access to information rights in Scotland - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space
• Freedom of Information extension of coverage - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space
• Consultation on a Draft Order extending coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to Registered Social Landlords - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space
• Extending Coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to Registered Social Landlords - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space
• Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002: 'Time for Compliance' Regulations - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space
• Further Extension of Coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to More Organisations - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space

In relation to the third part of your request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 30(b)(i) (free and frank provision of advice), 36(1) (confidentiality in legal proceedings), 30(c) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) and 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA apply to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

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.

FOI 202300386939 - Information Released - Documents A - E

File type

42 page PDF

File size

907.6 kB

FOI 202300386939 - Information Released - Annex

File type

2 page PDF

File size

98.0 kB