Freedom of Information request statistics for 2024: FOI release

Information requested

Could you republish the tables in that request, but with the following additional information:

1. The information should be brought up to date for 2023 and 2024 (so far).

2. Requesters should be more clearly identified. In the table, you identify people as “journalist” or “researcher”. I would ask for the information to be more precise and informative. For example, people should be identified as “Daily Record journalist” or “Liberal Democrat Party researcher” or “University of Strathclyde researcher”. Additionally, where it is not possible to release a name, a label should be given to each requester (e.g. “Requester A”, “Requester B”, etc, so that the reader can follow whether one requester was, say, in 4th position one year and in 7th position the next. This would allow their cumulative impact to be assessed. You should be aware that this is the approach taken by the Scottish Information Commissioner himself: I have a FOI response from the Office of the SIC where they identify people as, for example, “Journalist D (Mail on Sunday)”.

I consider that the public interest in the release of this information is as follows: the FOI regime accepts that its burden to the public purse is a relevant consideration: see, for example, the cost limit rules. Being able to identify, and analyse, the extent to which costs borne by the public through the operation of FOI are due to the activities of different sectors, and in some cases, to the activities of individuals and individual campaigns, is important information: it allows the public to consider whether the burden is appropriate and informs debates about the use and future of the FOI regime itself.

Outwith FOI

I have one further comment to make, outwith the FOI regime. I think that this information is important, and that it being public is important. I note also that you receive regular FOIs about FOI statistics themselves: about longest waits, about FOIs considered sensitive or passed to Special Advisers, about reviews, and reviews upheld, about the range of exemptions used, late responses, etc.

I would like you to consider a really ambitious scheme of proactive publication about FOI statistics. It is clearly a topic of public interest, in both the sense that the public are keen to know, and in the sense that it serves their interests for the information to be public. Additionally, this is clearly information you either already hold, or can access easily, since these FOI statistics requests appear invariably to be answered.

I think that quarterly publication would be appropriate, and that information should cover both the numbers of requests received, the areas receiving them, the speed at which they are dealt with, the range of exemptions applied, the numbers refused entirely for whatever reason, and information about the requesters. You have a good idea of the sort of thing people are interested in from the sort of FOI requests you receive on these subjects.

It is disappointing that you do not have any reliable information about the total cost to the public of compliance with the FOI regime, but this sort of second-order information would go a long way to making up for that (and it would prevent you from having to work hard to a timetable to release it in dries and drabs in response to individual FOI requests.)

Response

I enclose a copy of the information you requested in the attached spreadsheet.

I have interpreted your request for "FOI requests made" to refer to both valid FOI & EIR requests which have been registered on the Scottish Government’s correspondence system and answered under either FOISA or EIRs legislation where applicable; then of these FOI & EIR requests, the number that a review was requested; then of these that an appeal has then been made to the Scottish Information Commissioner. This is all reflected in the tables I have included for each year requested.

I have also added in identifying markers for you to easily see the trends of each requester per year as per your ask.

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 an exemption under section 38(1)(b)(personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

This exemption applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names of individuals, and disclosing would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in 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. In some cases, where the information that we hold suggests that the data subject is not a private individual, where possible, we have consulted the data subject in connection with this request and accommodated their views. We have considered the legitimate interests of the requester in the information and balanced this against the rights and freedoms of the data subject. Where s38(1)(b) has been applied, I have determined the right to privacy of the data subject, outweighs the legitimate interest in the information.

With regard to your suggestion out with the FOI, we  are in the process of expanding and enhancing the data on our website to provide more comprehensive and up-to-date information.  This includes both adding new content and improving the quality of the existing data to ensure a better user experience.   

About FOI

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

FOI 202400432136 - Information Released - Annex

File type

Excel document

File size

17.2 kB