Cumulative costs of Scottish Government legal fees from 2020: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
1. In the last five financial years (inclusive of 2024/25), please provide the details of which matters counsel or legal advice was sought for any cumulative cost of legal fees of more than £50,000.
2. This should include live and closed matters, with "matters" taken to be a general description of the action, not the legal specifics, in a way which would eliminate any prejudice in disclosing the sums spent on the action.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.
An exemption(s) under section(s) section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. We are unable to disclose all of the litigation court case names as this is a clear GDPR issue. In addition, there are GDPR issues on cases which are not subject to a court judgement. On that basis, we have produced and provided you with a redacted list of the litigation court case names within the time frame you have requested.
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