Media requests from broadcasters to interview Scottish Government Ministers: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
A list of how many media requests were made by broadcasters to speak to Scottish Government Ministers between December 1 2024 and the date of this FOI, and whether they were rejected and accepted, the Minister wanted and the reasons for acceptance and rejection.
Response
1. A list of how many media requests were made by broadcasters to speak to Scottish Government Ministers between 1 December 2024 and 22 January 2025, and whether they were rejected and accepted.
The Scottish Government Communications News team is responsible for dealing with requests from media to interview Ministers, referred to as bids. Bids which are undertaken during Ministerial visits or events are not routinely recorded. Prearranged broadcast bids are recorded when they are received outside of these occasions. These details are provided below.
Of the interview requests recorded, 108 requests were made by broadcasters for interviews with Scottish Government Ministers between 1 December 2024 and 22 January 2025.
I enclose a copy of the information you requested in the Annex. These include:
- 76 accepted. Of those, 73 were completed and three are due to be completed at a future date.
- 23 declined/ declined - lines given.
- 9 received requests which were afterwards withdrawn by the broadcasters.
2. The Minister wanted
When making a request for interview, broadcasters do not always specify a named Minister and where they do, the Scottish Government does not routinely keep a record of this.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
For pre-arranged interview requests, records are kept of the name of the Minister who has accepted/ completed or declined the request. Information is provided in the Annex under the ‘Who’ column.
3. The reasons for acceptance and rejection
The reasons for accepting pre-arranged broadcaster interview requests are not recorded by the Scottish Government.
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
The reasons for rejecting pre-arranged broadcaster interview requests are not routinely recorded by the Scottish Government. Where this information is available, this is provided in the Annex under the ‘Reason’ column. Often, when a pre-arranged interview request is declined, a written comment (lines) will be provided instead.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG