Scottish Government internal writing style guide: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
A copy of the Scottish Government’s internal style guide for use by civil servants. If every directorate has their own, or if there are different style guides for different uses e.g. policy and communications, then please share a copy of each.
To clarify, by style guide I am referring to a document that gives a set of rules for writing and presenting text.
Response
I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.
You asked for a copy of the Scottish Government’s internal style guide which is attached. I have also attached a copy of the Scottish Government’s ‘How to write well’ guide’. You also asked us to share a copy of any other style guides used by individual directorates or policy areas. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving, and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600.
We conducted a global search of the Scottish Government's corporate records management system using the search term “style guide”. A large number of items were returned, which would need to be reviewed individually to determine whether they fall within scope of your specific request.
Under section 12 of FOISA, public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by regulations made under Section 12.
You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs'.
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