Decision Notice 045/2024: FOI release

Information requested

1) Can you provide me with a list of ministers who received the one-on-one sessions on record keeping as mentioned in the decision notice, and confirm if the First Minister was one of them?

2) Can you confirm when these took place, and who delivered them?

3) Can you confirm if Special Advisers were also trained on their responsibilities in relation to this and received similar training?

Response

Our response to each question is as follows:

1) Please find attached a list of Ministers who received a briefing session on record keeping as mentioned in the decision notice (045/2024). The First Minister was briefed separately by officials on these matters and commissioned the sessions to ensure his Ministerial team were reminded clearly of their obligations in this area.

2) The date of each individual briefing session and anonymised details of the Scottish Government officials who delivered the briefing is included in the attachment.

3) Special Advisers did not form part of this programme of briefing sessions. Special advisers, as temporary civil servants appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, are bound by the standards of integrity and honesty required of all civil servants as set out in the Civil Service Code. Special Advisers are required to comply with the information and records management requirements which apply to all civil servants.

Section 38(1)(b) – Personal data

Some information has been withheld as an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal data) of FOISA applies to that information. This is because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR (or section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018). This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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 202400406748 - Information Released - Annex

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2 page PDF

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72.6 kB