Meeting of the Parliament 15 November 2023
When I was making the preparations for the statement, the advice to me was very clear that the Scottish Government’s interpretation of those early requests was for information on decision making, and my statement was made on that basis. What the First Minister and I have said since then is an acknowledgement that, looking back at those requests, we can see that the inquiry has a point, which is why the GIQ put the information of the full timeline—all the information that was asked for—into the public domain.
I turn to the legal advice, because the Labour amendment to the motion makes reference to the legal advice that was provided to the Scottish Government during the pandemic. The Scottish ministerial code explicitly states that Scottish ministers
“may acknowledge publicly that they have received legal advice on a particular topic, but must not divulge either who provided the advice or its contents (whether it is from the Law Officers or from anyone else).”
That is a long-standing convention of respecting the legal professional privilege of legal advice provided to the Government, which is a privilege that I understand that Governments elsewhere in these islands also follow. The code also sets out that
“Where, in exceptional circumstances, Ministers come to the view that the balance of public interest lies in disclosing either the source or the contents of legal advice on a particular matter, the Law Officers must then be consulted and their prior consent obtained before any disclosure takes place. Such consent will only be granted where there are compelling reasons for disclosure in the particular circumstances.”
It is the view of ministers that disclosure to the inquiries fits with a commitment towards transparency. As a result, Scottish Government officials have sought an agreement with the inquiries, giving them full access to unredacted material that is legally privileged. We will seek to ensure that the inquiries are able to disclose that material if they consider it necessary to do so, subject to any overriding contrary public interest. Our overall commitment will be to full transparency. [Interruption.]
The First Minister has set out to members—