Information Commissioner blasts ‘preposterous excuses’ from Scottish Government

The Scottish Government has been accused of using “preposterous and unacceptable” excuses to prevent legal advice linked to an ethics probe into former first minister Nicola Sturgeon from being released.

Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton said Holyrood ministers had “once again failed” to comply with one of his decisions regarding the disclosure of information.

Mr Hamilton has already taken court action against the Scottish Government as part of a long-running dispute over the the release of information from an official inquiry which cleared Ms Sturgeon of  breaching the ministerial code during an investigation into the behaviour of her predecessor Alex Salmond.

But with the Information Commissioner saying he can now “no longer trust the Government to handle this information unsupervised”, he said he would have to “explore more intrusive options to ensure compliance”.

Mr Hamilton added he will now have to consider if he can “resource a further intervention to examine the unusual case-handling practices in these cases”.

It came after a letter from the Scottish Government’s most senior civil servant, Permanent Secretary Joe Griffin, said while all legal advice within the scope of the freedom of information request had been released, some information had been “withheld” which “included legal advice, as well as other information subject to litigation privilege”.

Mr Griffin stressed, however, the case had involved the “disclosure of a substantial amount of material”.

Last month the Scottish Government published 18 bundles of documents from the case, involving more  than 4,700 pages of information – also some of which were redacted.

Mr Griffin said: “If there is a concern that in making that disclosure ministers simultaneously withheld information considered to be within the scope of the request, I have been assured that this is not the case.”

The Information Commissioner, however, is now consulting with lawyers on whether to raise this “non-compliance” with the Court of Session – a move which could allow the court to inquire into a second possible case of contempt of court.

Mr Hamilton launched a fierce attack on the Scottish Government, saying: “Perhaps worse than the fact that Scottish ministers have once again failed to comply with one of my decisions is that they appear to have tried to conceal this breach of trust with unjustified delays and a wall of silence.

“The excuses I have now been given, both in writing and in person, are preposterous and unacceptable.”

Adding that he had expressed his “dismay” at the situation during a meeting with the Permanent Secretary, the commissioner said: “The Government’s FOI handling of the Hamilton Inquiry cases stands in stark contrast to the way nearly every other case of theirs is handled.

“Following my meeting with the Permanent Secretary, I now need to assess whether I can resource a further intervention to examine the unusual case-handling practices in these cases.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Permanent Secretary met the Scottish Information Commissioner on March 11 and assured him that these cases were being handled properly, in line with statutory duties and with the highest standards of impartiality and integrity.”