Meeting of the Parliament 20 June 2018
Neil Findlay makes a point that Andy Wightman raised during last week’s statement. They imply that the report suggested that the Government broke the law, but that was not a conclusion that the report came to. The commissioner’s inquiry was a level 3 intervention under section 43(1) and section 43(3) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, which relate to “good practice”. It is my intention, and I am determined, that the Scottish Government will become an exemplar in best practice, and this report will help us to achieve that aim.
As reflected in the Labour motion, the commissioner’s report highlights a number of areas in which action is required, including clearance, training, case handling and records management. The report is thorough and is being considered in detail by officials.
However, as I notified members last week, we have revised guidance on our clearance processes with immediate effect, so where, in some of the language that Rhoda Grant used, “This is what we do”, it is now “That is what we did.” I have signed off new guidance that changes our processes on those matters. That directly addresses the report’s recommendation 3, on the treatment of requests being based on the class of the requester rather than on the sensitivity of the information that is sought. Our revised guidance, which is in the public domain, as is all our guidance, makes clear that consideration should be based on the information that is requested, rather than the identity of the requester.
In addition, in addressing issues that were raised in recommendations 4 and 6, we anticipate that the introduction of a new tracker system and the updating of the Scottish Government’s electronic records management system should significantly improve request monitoring and record keeping.
I confirm again that the agreed action plan will be published and I am sure that the Scottish Information Commissioner will make public any report into the Scottish Government’s implementation of the action plan. Therefore, we will support the Conservative Party’s amendment tonight. The commissioner also noted concerns about the case file and record keeping of case handlers, and we will address the commissioner’s concerns about record keeping in developing our action plan.
A vast amount of information is proactively published by the Scottish Government on its website, which includes Government spend data and a range of ministerial information. I am pleased to announce that, from July, that will include ministerial travel and subsistence expenses.
My amendment confirms that the Scottish Government accepts the commissioner’s recommendations in full and will develop an action plan by the September deadline. The amendment also acknowledges that improvements are required on response times to journalists’ FOI requests. As set out in the commissioner’s report in 2017-18, the average response time to media requests was 19 days compared with 17 days to non-media requests. We will fix that.
As well as through the Freedom of Information (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013, the Scottish Government has sought to ensure that our FOI legislation remains fit for purpose by bringing forward two orders that extend coverage of the act. We have also consulted on a draft order that would extend coverage of the 2002 act to registered social landlords. The terms of that order are currently being finalised.
However, against a backdrop of an ever-changing public service delivery landscape, where services that were traditionally provided by public authorities are now being provided by the third sector or private contractors, I am conscious of increasing demands to look again at the scope of coverage of the legislation. In particular, I credit the Liberal Democrats for keeping the issue of coverage on the radar. We will therefore develop proposals to consult on further extension of coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, for example to companies that carry out services on behalf of the public sector.
Our proposals will reflect changes in the delivery of public services—