Public Interest Journalism Working Group recommendations: Scottish Government response

Recommendation 6 - Improved and expanded public notice services

The Working Group recommends that Audit Scotland, in partnership with the proposed Scottish Public Interest Journalism Institute, should conduct an annual audit of public notices.

The Working Group also recommends that the Scottish Government should improve the accessibility of public notices and strengthen the ties with public interest journalism, and issue best practice guidelines for local authorities and other public bodies to ensure that they promote public notices to those who have an interest in the information.

It is procurement policy to publish all Scottish Government spending over £25,000 on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish Government agrees that there is a need for public notices to be accessible, and recognises the importance of communities being able to easily access information about decisions that directly affect them. It is important to democracy that people are well informed.

The Scottish Government will engage with public notice procurement and local authorities to establish if any further action can be taken to increase the visibility and reach of public notices and strengthen ties to public interest journalism.