Scottish Government communications policy: FOI release

Information requested

a) In relation to SMP's who administers their inbox by reference to each SMP? 

b) Where there is an PA/Office Manager (civil service) is used, whether there is a standard rubric that they work to in relation to classifying information received and presenting to the minister?

c) In reference to GDPR requests whether these are carried out by the minister, personally?

d) What checks and balances are in place to ensuring that SMP's are provided with relevant information in a timely way, in order to provide for good governance?

Response

The Scottish Government can only provide you with information in relation to Ministerial inboxes of Scottish Government Ministers and this is provided below. If you are looking for information in respect of other Members of the Scottish Parliament, or Ministers' constituency inboxes, then you should contact the Scottish Parliament.

If you are looking for information in relation to Scottish Members of the UK Parliament, you should contact the House of Commons Information Compliance team.

a) In relation to SMP's who administers their inbox by reference to each SMP

In relation to the information that the Scottish Government can provide you with in answer to your request, each Minister is provided with a small team of Scottish Government civil servants led by a Private Secretary. This small team administers the Ministerial inbox. As permanent civil servants, this Private Office provides impartial support to Ministers and allows for a continuity of civil service support where there are Ministerial changes (whether that be as a result of a reshuffle, or a complete change of administration).

b) Where there is an PA/Office Manager (civil service) is used, whether there is a standard rubric that they work to in relation to classifying information received and presenting to the
minister

When submissions are presented to Ministers, the Private Office will include a note about whether it is: to make a decision, comment on, or just to note. Additionally, a civil servant with an in-depth knowledge of the policy will provide advice and classify the submission's urgency with one of the following categories:

Immediate – a reply is requested or required within 24 hours (i.e. one working day)
Urgent – a reply is requested or required within 3 working days; and
Routine – which means that a reply is requested or required no sooner than 3 working days from the date of the minute

As all Ministers have different ways of working, each Private Office works with their Minister to develop a system for managing their workload that best works for them, whilst also ensuring the efficient management of the Minister's submissions and correspondence.

c) In reference to GDPR requests whether these are carried out by the minister, personally In respect of GDPR requests, I am assuming you are referring to a request made by somebody for any information that might be held about themselves which we refer to as a Subject Access Request (SAR).

Any request of this sort made to the Scottish Government, whether through our central contact point or via a Minister's office, is handled by appropriately trained civil servants and is not handled personally by any Minister. Further guidance on how the Scottish Government handles Subject Access Requests can be found on the Scottish Government Website

d) What checks and balances are in place to ensuring that SMP's are provided with relevant information in a timely way, in order to provide for good governance 

Civil Servants are all subject to the Civil Service Code and are recruited according to the process outlined on the Scottish Government website. 

This is ultimately overseen by the Permanent Secretary, who is the principal accountable officer for the Scottish Government and is personally responsible to the Scottish Parliament for the exercise of his responsibilities. This includes the management of the Scottish Government’s £49 billion budget and the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources.

As well as each Private Office ensuring that they are efficiently managing the information coming into their Minister, each policy area within the Scottish Government also records what they have sent to Ministers and are awaiting a decision or response to ensure that there is nothing that the Private Office might have missed.

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.