CALLS have been made to anonymise Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to government advisers amid fears they have been "unduly interfering" in certain cases.
This week, The Herald revealed that scores of requests are regularly being sent to special advisers (Spads) and ministers for approval, with critics saying this was failing to act in the "spirit" of FOI laws.
It follows a a number recent controversies around the government's approach and handling of FOI requests and the influence of political figures, including claims that those coming from journalists were being treated different from other requests.
Last year journalists from across the Scottish media signed an open letter criticising the government's approach, with MSPs subsequently condemning its conduct in a unanimous vote in parliament.
Now Labour MSP Neil Findlay has lodged a motion at Parliament calling on the head of the devolved civil service to step in and ensure all cases passed on to a Spad or minister remain anonymous.
He said: "SNP Ministers and their taxpayer funded spin doctors are interfering in information requests on an industrial scale.
"Some of the country’s leading journalists have already expressed their fears that their requests are being handled differently from others.
"This week’s revelation showed they have every right to be fearful.
"This is clearly an unacceptable situation and the Scottish Government must act to ensure the names of those asking for information are withheld from SPADs and politicians."
On Wednesday, investigative journalist James McEnaney revealed that in a snapshot of requests over a two-week period in March, out of 141 requests for information, 57 of them were referred to politically appointed advisers and 39 were sent for "ministerial approval".
Lord Wallace, ex-MP and former Deputy First Minister, who is is one of the legal minds behind Scotland's transparency laws said that while the involvement of special advisers wasn't above "the letter of the law, it certainly flies in the face of the intended spirit of the legislation".
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "The legal duty to comply with FOI legislation lies with Scottish Ministers, who are accountable for all FOI responses issued by the Scottish Government.
"As such, it is entirely appropriate that Ministers are sighted on, and content with, proposed information releases or exemptions, applied in line with the FOI Act – particularly in sensitive and high profile areas, and regardless of who requests the information.
"When preparing FOI responses, officials will always consider carefully, and on a case-by-case basis, whether input or clearance is required from relevant parts of the organisation, including other officials, special advisers and ministers, as is set out clearly in our the publicly available guidance.
"We are co-operating fully with the Scottish Information Commissioner who is considering our processes and practices and we await publication of his report."
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here