MINISTERS are facing an embarrassing revolt from an SNP-led committee which has rejected key Freedom of Information reforms exempting Royal Family and arms-length bodies that take over public services.
A report by Holyrood's Finance Committee, which is chaired by SNP stalwart Kenny Gibson, has called for FoI legislation to be amended to take account of these two concerns, with only a single Tory member voting against.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We thank the committee for its work and we will now study the report and its recommendations."
Ministers are proposing to make communications with the Queen, her immediate heir and second in line to the throne automatically exempt from Freedom of Information requests, in line with reforms to FoI legislation south of the Border.
But both the Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, and the Unison trade union raised concerns about the absolute exemption.
Ms Agnew warned the committee that "making an exemption absolute further undermines and erodes rights to information".
The Scottish Government says the change, included in the Freedom of Information (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, would bring Scotland in line with the situation in the rest of the UK.
But Finance Committee members say they are "unconvinced of the need for this provision".
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