Ministers ‘refuse to release letters’

Scottish Government ministers are refusing to release correspondence which reportedly shows that the Prince of Wales lobbied them to change rules on teacher training for a charity which could benefit financially from the reforms.

According to a national newspaper, ministers have rejected three requests to publish letters and documents from Prince Charles’s office.

The documents reportedly express support for proposals from Teach First – a charity he helped set up 15 years ago – which are aimed at introducing fast-track teacher training in Scotland. Scottish ministers are said to have applied a unique exemption under section 41(a) in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 on all documents mentioning the Prince of Wales.