Claim Holyrood is transparent is laughable

In early fell off my chair reading the claim( Scots man, November 26) that Holyrood has an “open and transparent” Freedom of Information ( FOI) regime!

The effects of the changes they claim to have made to their previous dodgy practices have yet to be fully appreciated. What is the case, is that earlier this year the SNP attempted to extend the response time to FOI requests from 20 to 60 working days and it was recently revealed that Health Secretary Jeane Freeman proposed FOI legislation be suspended altogether!

Most disturbing of all was the revelation that a FOI request to release forecasting analysis of possible Covid deaths from a second wave was simply refused! This is in keeping with their persistent refusal to publish – as does the UK government – the advice of the chief medical officers upon which they claim to base their political decisions.

It is also, of course, in keeping with their approach to the Alex Salmond inquiry. Witnesses are virtually gagged, or even forbidden to appear at all! Worst of all, the democratic decision by the Scottish Parliament demanding the release of the legal advice was simply disregarded – and a second Scottish parliament vote is "being discussed"!

Contrary to the claim that that it is “open and transparent”, it should be clear to all but the most ardent diehards that this SNP government routinely denies access to information undeniably in the public interest by “obstruction and obfuscation”. And these are not my words but those of the chair of the Salmond inquiry - an SNP MSP.

COLIN HAMILTON

Braid Hills Avenue, Edinburgh