'Treating the public with contempt!' SNP accused of 'rotten culture of secrecy' after damning new figures
WATCH: Penny Mordaunt accuses SNP of 'total incompetence'
The SNP has been accused of overseeing a "rotten culture of secrecy", after new figures show that at a majority of FOI responses are not answered in full.
Only a third of responses to the SNP Government were issued in full and on time, figures obtained by Scottish Labour show.
In 2023, the Scottish government receievd 4,459 Freedom of Information Requests. But just 1,434 requests receieved a full response within the legal timescales.
This means that as many as 68 per cent were either late, refused or redacted.
The SNP has been accused of overseeing a 'rotten culture of secrecy'
PA
Just one week earlier, George Adam - the SNP minsiter in charge of dealing with the requests, claimed he had overseen an improvement in the way the government handled the requests.
He said: "Since I've been in post, I've made sure that we've been very proactive and getting as much information as possible out there to those who have requested it.
"Will there be times where journalists and members of the public will be upset by not getting information? Well it's inevitable.
"A lot of this with FOI is a misunderstanding about what the question is actually asking. Some individuals will ask a huge ranging question that will get all the information, but it'll be too much and they'll think it's not given them that answer.
"So a lot of the time it is just making sure that we get the detail, I've said to journalists in the past, explain to me exactly what you're looking for and we'll try and get the answers that you're looking for. Because the most important thing is the Scottish Government does believe in openness and transparency."
But Scottish Labour accused the party of presiding over a "rotten culture of secrecy".
Deputy leader, Jackie Baillie, said: “Once again the SNP is treating the public with contempt and attempting to stifle scrutiny.
“Time and time again we see the SNP’s disregard for transparency on display, from their woeful record on FOIs to the shameful destruction of evidence during the Covid pandemic.
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Scottish Labour accused the party of presiding over a "rotten culture of secrecy".
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"Scotland deserves better than the rotten culture of secrecy and cover-up this SNP Government has created.
"Scottish Labour will strengthen FOI laws and clean up Holyrood by bolstering government accountability and oversight.”
Minister for Parliamentary Business George Adam said: “The Scottish Government is currently responding to 97% of FOI requests within the statutory deadline, despite an increase of 66% in requests since 2019, to over 5,000 requests in 2023. Inevitably, it is sometimes necessary for organisations’ responses to apply the exemptions – as Parliament agreed when passing the legislation, for example to withhold personal data such as names.
“Scotland has the most open and far-reaching Freedom of Information legislation in the UK and the Scottish Government remains committed to our obligations under the Act to ensure openness and transparency.”
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