Scottish Government and Ministerial Code Former Advisor communications: FOI release

Information requested

All communications between the Scottish Government and Mr James Hamilton, the former advisor on the ministerial code since January 2025.

Response

I enclose a copy of the information that you have requested.

Exemptions applied

Section 38(1)(b) (personal data of a third party)

Section 38(1)(b) applies to some of the information because it is personal data of a third party, in this case, the names of Scottish Government officials below the level of Senior Civil Servant, and personal email addresses. Disclosing this would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

Section 25(1) (Otherwise accessible)

Information relating to your request that has already been published can be found by accessing the below links:

Scottish Government and Ministerial Code Former Advisor communications: FOI release - gov.scot

Former Independent Adviser to the Scottish Government communications: FOI Review - gov.scot

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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.

FOI 202500482626 - Information Released - Annex

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