Open Update: FOI news from the Scottish Information Commissioner |
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FOI news from the Scottish Information Commissioner |
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20 years of FOI – in 20 numbers David Hamilton Scottish Information Commissioner
2025 is a significant year for freedom of information in Scotland - not least because, on 1 January 2025, Scotland’s FOI Act celebrated its 20th anniversary. That’s twenty years since the people of Scotland were first given the legal right under FOI to request and receive information from Scotland’s public bodies (along with the right of appeal to my office should things go wrong).
Over the last two decades people from all over Scotland have made use of this right, accessing information on a huge range of issues, from health data to housing, policing to policy-making, environmental issues to education standards.
And make no mistake, during that time, FOI has helped to shift the balance of power between individuals and organisations, while also helping Scotland’s public authorities become more open, transparent and accountable to the communities they serve.
Over the coming months we’re planning to celebrate the anniversary of FOI through a number of events and activities – more on this in our next newsletter. But first, I’m going to get the ball rolling by reflecting on 20 years of FOI through 20 numbers; an overview of some facts and figures which demonstrate both the impact and value that FOI has had for the people of Scotland… alongside the value of making an appeal to my office in the (hopefully unlikely) event that things go wrong…
The first three numbers I'm focussing on are below, to read about the rest, click the link that follows… - 1.4 million requests
We estimate that more than 1.4 million FOI requests have been made to Scottish public authorities since 2005 when FOI came into force – that’s 1.4 million times people have used their legal right to access information on the issues that matter to them and their communities.
- 86% responded to on time
We started collecting data from public authorities in 2013. This data shows, that over that time, 86% of requests have been answered with the FOI Act’s 20-working day timescale. While there’s certainly more work to be done to improve compliance in this area, this figure shows that the typical experience is that a response is received within 20-working days of the request being made.
- 75% result in information being provided…
75% of the FOI requests made in Scotland result in some or all of the information being disclosed, with 56% resulting in full disclosure. This means that, if you make a request , the most likely outcome is that you’ll receive information that you’re looking for.
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We're reporting live on our appeal performance... We’ve launched a new online tool which provides live reporting, updated daily, on the progress we’re making when investigating FOI appeals. The new resource, which is available on our Current Investigations page on the website, provides visual information on our live caseload, setting out where cases sit in our workstreams, while also showing the progress we’re making as we work to resolve our appeal backlog.
And the good news is that we’re now more than half way through the process of clearing our backlog, with 54.7% of backlog cases either closed or under active investigation. You can keep up to date with our progress on these, and other cases at www.foi.scot/current-investigations. |
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eCase FOI Awards Conference After the nominations closed on the 29th November, judging has commenced to award the FOI Practitioner, Team and Initiative of the Year, alongside this year’s FOI Rising Star. The awards will be announced at a free conference for public sector practitioners in London on 5 March 2025, hosted by eCase. Speakers include Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton and UK Information Commissioner John Edwards, along with speakers from across the FOI spectrum to celebrate and share best practice.
Visit the eCase FOI Awards website to register your interest in the London event. |
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Have you updated your templates? As you may know, the Scottish Information Commissioner moved over to a new website - www.foi.scot and changed our email addresses to the @foi.scot domain. We would recommend that any public bodies, advice-providers or other stakeholders take steps to update their own references and guidance with our new address, if they haven’t already done so. This will ensure that any links continue to work into the future. |
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New year, new us? Don’t worry, we’re not changing it up too much, but we are expanding our social media channels! Be sure to give us a follow, like or share on our feeds. You can find us on LinkedIn, X (@FOIScotland) and now Bluesky (@foi.scot).
If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see from us, please get in touch. |
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FOI statistics for October – December is open for submission The portal for the submission of the latest batch of public authority FOI statistics, covering the period from 1 October to 31 December 2024, is now open.
The details to log in to submit stats will have been sent to public authority staff via email, so it is important to check junk folders and alert us to any staff changes if this email hasn’t been received. The deadline for submission is Friday 7 February, so if you are a public authority and haven’t yet submitted your data, please do so as soon as possible.
Recent FOI data can be viewed through the Commissioner’s FOI statistics portal. |
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Decisions, decisions... Last year we issued our highest number of decisions ever in a calendar year, with 303 decisions issued in 2024 – more than the preceding two years combined. Overall, 2024 saw 611 appeals made to the Commissioner, and of those received, 256 were found to be invalid (meaning we were unable to take them forward for investigation).
It is important for requesters to ensure their requests meet our criteria for investigation. We provide guidance on making valid appeals on our website and urge authorities to ensure they are providing the correct information to requesters on what their rights are when requesting and seeking a review. |
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Any charge for environmental information must be ‘reasonable’ While public authorities are entitled to make charges when responding to environmental information requests, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations (the EIRs) set out that any charge must be ‘reasonable’.
In Decision 257/2024, we found that a fees notice issued by the authority was not reasonable. In coming to this decision, we took account of the international convention underpinning the EIRs - which stresses the importance of access to information in supporting public understanding and participation in environmental matters - and related guidance from the UK Information Commissioner.
During our investigation the authority explained that its approach was to charge for every single item of environmental information. We considered this approach for all cases was inconsistent with the general right to environmental information and asked the authority to review its approach. Our decision required the authority to provide the requester with a new response which must not impose a fresh charge. |
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If an FOI response would exceed £600, authorities should advise on narrowing the request
Section 12 of the FOI Act sets out that public authorities are not required to provide information if the cost of responding exceeds £600. This means that, if the cost reaches this threshold, we can’t require that the information be disclosed.
In Decision 283/2024 it became apparent during our investigation that the cost to the authority of responding would exceed this limit. We therefore accepted that the ‘excessive cost’ limit would apply. This meant that we could not substantively consider, or require disclosure of, the information.
This case underlines the importance of public authorities ensuring that they undertake reasonable and robust calculations when estimating the cost of complying with a request. Where a public authority concludes that the cost limit applies, they have a duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance to requesters to help them narrow their request.
Earlier advice in this case may have led to a much quicker outcome for the requester. |
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Assessing the public interest when ‘neither confirming nor denying’ Section 18 of the FOI Act allows public authorities to neither confirm nor deny whether information is held in certain circumstances. For this provision to apply, the information must, if it was held, fall within the scope of one of a limited number of exemptions, and the public interest must also favour neither confirming nor denying whether the information is held.
When assessing the public interest in relation to section 18, we must consider whether revealing the existence of the information would cause the harm claimed by the public authority. In doing so, we must consider the harm that would be caused by revealing whether information existed or was held – not the harm from the disclosure of information (if it existed and was held).
In Decision 243/2024 and Decision 247/2024, we found that an authority’s submissions on the harm that would be caused were focused on disclosure (if the information existed and was held). In both cases, we therefore required the authority to issue the requester with a new response confirming whether the information requested existed and was held. |
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30 January 2025 - Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Tune in to Scottish Parliament TV to watch the Scottish Information Commissioner give evidence before Scottish Parliament on his 2023-24 Annual Report. |
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5 February 2025 – eCase Webinar – FOI and Prejudice Free lunchtime webinar, exploring what you need to consider before applying the harm test exemptions in practice. |
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7 February 2025 - Survey for Quarter 3 FOI statistics closes Submissions to our public authority statistics portal will close at 5pm on Friday 7th Feb. If you work for a public authority which hasn’t submitted, please do so now, to ensure you meet the deadline! |
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5 March 2025 - eCase FOI Awards Conference 2025 Free conference for FOI practitioners, taking place in central London. Visit the FOI Awards Conference website to find out more. |
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