Swinney insists on intervening in half of ‘right to know’ requests
JOHN Swinney has personally intervened in more than half of information requests about education, amid growing concerns over ministerial interference.
The Education Secretary received 51 pleas for data about schooling, colleges and other related topics in September, documents show.
Of the 49 answered, 27 responses were signed off and cleared with Mr Swinney before being sent out.
The two remaining requests were rejected, as the documents show there are no outstanding freedom of information (FOI) submissions from that month.
Tory MSP Donald Cameron said the documents were ‘more evidence the SNP is afraid of accountability and has no intention of opening up Government’. He added: ‘Freedom of information does not have to be complicated.
‘Yet when requests come in, it seems Nationalist spinners, special advisers and even Cabinet Secretaries want to get their hands all over them. That’s not an indication of an administration committed to transparency.’
It emerged in February that Mr Swinney’s office was to be investigated by Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry over fears of ‘political interference’. It followed claims he had sought to withhold Deputy Scottish Political Editor details of correspondence with Prince Charles over the Teach First charity.
The inquiry, which has concluded, raised concerns about deliberate delays to the release of politically sensitive information, but Mr Fitzhenry said that no FOI laws had been broken.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Given that it is Scottish ministers who are legally responsible for ensuring the Scottish Government’s compliance with FOI legislation, it is entirely appropriate they have oversight of responses being issued – and at no point in his recent review did the Commissioner suggest otherwise.’
The Freedom of Information Act – introduced in Scotland in 2002 – allows everyone access to information held by a public authority.
But a culture of secrecy among such bodies and authorities has been exposed by the Scottish Daily Mail’s Secret Scotland campaign.
The Information Commissioner raised concerns over the involvement of ministers and special advisers in handling FOI requests, in a damning report released in June.
It criticised the Scottish Government for treating journalists, politicians and political researchers differently from the public – leading to claims Nicola Sturgeon was presiding over a ‘secret Scotland’.
It then emerged in September that more than 200 investigations had been launched by Mr Fitzhenry over the previous year amid concerns about a secrecy culture.
Appeals to his office after public bodies rejected requests rose from 425 in 2016-17 to 507 in 2017-18.