Definitions according to the Scottish Ministerial Code: FOI release

Information requested

Noting that: 'the ‘Scottish Ministerial Code’ states that Scottish Government resources can only be used by Scottish Ministers for official government business and must not be used for party political purposes,1.3 (i) Ministers must not use public resources for party political purposes'.

1. A definition of the term ‘public resources’ as included in Section 1.3 (i) of the Scottish Ministerial Code.
2. A list of examples to illustrate what would be included under this definition of 'public resources'.
3. Advice on whether ‘Building a New Scotland’ papers would be considered as Scottish Government resources/public resources.
4. A definition of 'official policy communications' as referenced in Section 10.11 of the Scottish Ministerial Code, while noting that “section 10.11 of the Ministerial Code states that, ‘If Ministers wish to use social media for official policy communications, they should use an appropriate Government account’”.
5. A list of examples to illustrate what would be included under this definition of ‘official policy communications’.

Response

1.

The Scottish Ministerial Code is intended to speak for itself and does not provide specific definitions of the terms used within it, such as ‘public resources’. As such, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

You may also be interested to note that further information about the principle set out at Section 1.3 (i) of the Scottish Ministerial Code, that "Ministers must not use public resources for party political purposes", is provided at Section 7 of the Code and this may also help to illustrate what is intended to be understood by the term 'public resources'.

For example, this part of the Code, which covers 'Ministers' Constituency and Party Interests', refers to "facilities provided to Ministers at Government expense to enable them to carry out their official duties", "Government property" and "official facilities and resources". Section 10.1 of the Code also refers to "Official facilities paid for out of public funds". You can find Sections 7 and 10 of the Code on the Scottish Government website at the following links:

Section 7: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2018-edition/pages/8/

Section 10: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-ministerial-code-2018-edition/pages/11/

2.

The Scottish Government does not hold a list of examples of what is intended to be understood by the reference to 'public resources' in the Scottish Ministerial Code. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. You may, however, be interested to note that the Code itself refers to “Government property” and “official facilities and resources”.

3.

The series of papers, titled 'Building a New Scotland', which together form a prospectus for an independent Scotland are official Government documents published by the Scottish Government. They are prepared using public resources. It is the role of the Civil Service to support the elected government of the day in developing and implementing its policies. That is the case for work on independence as it is for any other aspect of the government’s work.

4.

As noted in the answer to question 1, the Scottish Ministerial Code is intended to speak for itself and does not provide specific definitions of the terms used within it, such as ‘official policy communications’. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

5.

The Scottish Government does not hold a list of examples to illustrate what would be included within a definition of ‘official policy communications’ in the Scottish Ministerial Code. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested here.

You may, however, be interested to note that Section 10 of the Scottish Ministerial Code, which covers 'Ministers and the Presentation of Policy' refers at section 10.3 to the "presentational aspects of all major announcements, speeches and new policy initiatives". Section 10 of the Code also includes references media interviews, news conferences/ broadcasts, social media, media articles, publication of policy statements and consultation papers, and statistics. A link to Section 10 of the Code is provided above in response to question 1.

About FOI

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