Instances of Informal resolutions sought from Ministers to staff complaints: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02352
Date received: 29 August 2018
Date responded: 20 September 2018

Information requested

Please confirm all occasions since 2007 that Scottish Government’s Head of HR or other officials have approached
(i) the First Minister, or (ii) another minister seeking an informal resolution regarding a staff complaint.
In each case, please confirm the nature of the complaint, which minister was involved and what the resolution was.

Response

By reference to section 18(1) of FOISA we cannot confirm or deny whether any information is held. We are applying section 18(1) in conjunction with section 35(1)(c) (information exempt if disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice substantially the administration of justice) and section 38(1)(b) (personal data).

The exemption in section 35(1)(c) is subject to the public interest test. We have viewed the public interest test to be the balance between the need to be open and transparent in our decision making and ensuring that we do not  rejudice substantially the administration of justice. In that regard we cannot confirm or deny if any such information exists and we have concluded that the balance favours adopting that approach.

The exemption in section 38(1)(b) is not subject to the public interest test but we have applied the public interest as required by section 18 and have concluded that to reveal whether the information exists or not would be contrary to the public interest.

For information, I have attached at Annex A the response to a recent Parliamentary Question which you may find helpful.

 

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at FOI Responses

Annex A

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1 page PDF

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