Court cases the Scottish Government has been involved in recent years: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for 

1. How many court cases has the Scottish Government been involved in due to legislation they have drafted in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022? Breakdown of each case and what was the outcome and cost of these cases. If too much just do 2019-2022.' 
2. How much did the Alex Salmond prosecution case cost the Scottish government overall? Breakdown of these costs. 
3. How much has the Rangers malicious prosecution case cost so far? Breakdown of these costs. 
4. How much did the named person court case cost overall? Breakdown of these costs. 
5. How much has the independence court case cost overall? Breakdown of these costs.

As responding to this request as framed would have exceeded the cost limit, we therefore asked for clarification of your initial request on 3rd February 2023. 'In order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for we need some further information from you. Can you please clarify what you mean by how many court cases has the Scottish Government been involved in 'due to' legislation drafted. In particular, it would be helpful to know if this is in relation to primary or secondary legislation. As I am unable to continue without this, I will put your request on hold until I hear back from you. 

You responded on 3rd February 2023 with: 'I mean primary legislation.' 

I’ve interpreted your request as looking for information on cases in which the Scottish Government has been challenged on primary legislation it has drafted in the years since 2017. We respond on the above basis. 

 

 

Response

Some of the information you have requested is available from https://www.copfs.gov.uk/. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy. 
 

FOI 202300338707  SGLD Litigation
LIT/19339	Reference by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998	Lord Advocate’s Reference accepted and the two questions answered in affirmative.  Decision available online here: REFERENCE by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 (supremecourt.uk)  Costs: already published on SG website -  Independence referendum: Supreme Court referral costs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
LIT/18902	Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland - United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill  Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland - European Charter of Local Self Government (Incorporation) (Scotland)  Bill	Bills referred were outside legislative competence in certain respects.  Decision available online here: REFERENCES (Bills) by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland - United Nations Convention on  the Rights of the Child and European Charter of Local
		Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) (supremecourt.uk)  Costs: already published on SG website - Total costs for UNCRC and Local Government Supreme Court case: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
LIT/15617	Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland of the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill	Bill referred was outside legislative competence in certain respects.  Decision available online here: THE UK WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION (LEGAL CONTINUITY) (SCOTLAND) BILL - A  reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland (Scotland) (supremecourt.uk)  Costs: £131,900.10

LIT/18522 & LIT/18917	For Women Scotland Ltd v Lord Advocate which was a challenge to the Gender Representation on Public  Boards (Scotland) 2018	The outcome was that the definition of woman in section 2 of the Act was out with legislative competence. The Opinion is publicly available following this link.  Decision available online here: 2022csih4.pdf
		(scotcourts.gov.uk)  Costs: £205,866.00

 

2. In terms of the criminal case against the former First Minister, the Scottish Government was not a party to the criminal proceedings. Such matters lie with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). For clarity, COPFS take decisions on prosecutions in Scotland entirely independent of the Scottish Government or any other body; the attached link explains further the work of the COPFS. https://www.copfs.gov.uk/ 
    

3. The total costs to date so far, for the Rangers malicious prosecution case is £2,313,881.25. 

 

4. The information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, in the interests of being helpful, we have provided links to the relevant material below: Supreme Court rules on 'named person' - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

 

5. The information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, in the interests of being helpful, we have provided links to the relevant material below: Independence referendum Supreme Court referral: legal costs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

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