Freedom of Information requests sent to Special Advisers and Ministers: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many FOI requests have been sent to Special Advisers and Ministers in the last 12 months, and how many haven't been sent in the same time period?

2. Could you detail which one they had been sent to i.e Special Adviser or Minister or both?

Response

1. For the purpose of responding to this request, I have assumed that the term 'FOI request' refers to requests responded to under FOISA and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs).

From 16 January 2024 to 16 January 2025, the number of requests for information received was 5831. Of these, 336 were registered as sensitive and were sent to special advisers for comment and onwards to Ministers for clearance.

Of these, 5495 cases were deemed routine and received senior official clearance, meaning they were not sent to special advisers for comment or Ministers for clearance.

Please read our Criteria for Decision making which sets out how we deal with requests received into the Scottish Government.

This criteria was agreed between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Information Commissioner in November 2018 and defines the roles and responsibilities of different parties, including special advisers. It makes clear that special advisers are not decision makers in handling requests but do have a role in providing views and comments.

Requests assessed as sensitive and exceptionally complex will be initially registered as sensitive. Sensitive cases require special advisers comment and Ministerial clearance.

The grading of requests can change over their lifetime and some initially graded as sensitive may be downgraded and vice versa.

2. Some responses may be sent to special advisers and Ministers for awareness only and not clearance. No measurement is kept when this occurs.

All requests registered as sensitive normally pass through both special advisers and then Ministers.

This means 336 requests were sent to special advisors for comment and onto Ministers for clearance.

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.