Raising of Palestinian flag on Scottish Government buildings: FOI Review

Information requested

Original Request - 202500483555

“Publish all correspondence (including those of the First Minister and his advisors and “spin doctors”) relating to the raising of the Palestinian flag. These communications should include all warnings and impact assessments done into the repercussions (especially from the Jewish/Israel community in Scotland) of flying just a controversial flag over a Scottish Government building. Publish the reasons the Scottish Government decided against flying the flag over a Scottish Government building on 29th November 2024 but decided to go against those reasons and fly in the flag of Palestine over a Scottish Government building on 3rd September 2025. The flag flying policy states that “All other requests to fly flags must be cleared in advance by the First Minister via the Protocol and Honour team”. Provide the evidence and criteria used by the Protocol and Honours team that cleared the First Minister to fly a flag that is not on the “approved” flags list. How many Palestinian flags does the Scottish Government have, under whose orders were they purchased, when were they purchased and what is the total cost to the taxpayer of these flags and provide a copy of the purchase orders and invoices for these flags. Provide the evidence that flying the flag of a Palestine (a region that is not officially recognised as a country by the UK Government or even the European Parliament) could be in any way considered being impartial. Provide the evidence that the First Minister’s actions of raising the Palestine flag over a Scottish Government building fully complies with the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Code.”

Response

Further to my letter of 15 October 2025, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) on the raising of the Palestinian flag on Scottish Government buildings on 3 September 2025.

I have concluded that a different decision should be substituted.

First, I would like to apologise on behalf of Scottish Government as an administrative error occurred when documents were originally sent to you, and document 1 was not attached to the original letter. Document 1 includes information about the decision made by the First Minister to fly the Palestinian flag from Scottish Government buildings in line with Scottish Government guidance.

Second, the initial reply did not explain why most of the documents you received were heavily redacted. The documents were redacted as most of the information contained in them was out of scope. The information about the raising of the flag was contained within documents about the wider actions which could be taken by the Scottish Government in response to the crisis in Gaza. These documents mostly contain information that you did not ask for.

Third, I have reconsidered the exemptions and the public interest test and proceeded to carry out new searches. Here are the changes and why:

For Document 1 (email chain titled ‘RE:OFFSEN- Flags-for decision’) - this document was not sent as part of the reply pack due to an administrative error. Moreover, it should have been indicated that the information redacted is redacted under the exemption 38, relating to personal information. I have attached the document to this letter.

For Document 3 (submission titled ‘Submission- Israel/Gaza: Options’) - the document currently has redaction shown as being out of scope, although the accompanying letter you received indicated that exemption Section 30(b)(ii) (the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation) had been applied. Exemptions under section 30(b)(ii) should have been clearly indicated in the original document.

I have reviewed the redactions made under the exemption at section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA and have concluded that this exemption does not apply to any of the information originally withheld.

Paragraphs 2 and 14 were marked as being out of scope in the redacted documents you received, which is inaccurate. I have reconsidered these paragraphs and have concluded that paragraphs 2, and 14 should be disclosed.

Paragraph 14 is partially in scope. The beginning of the paragraph, as well as option 2 are in scope and I have concluded that this information should be disclosed.

Annex C, option 2 is in scope, and I have concluded that it should be disclosed.

Based on this, I have reattached the document with the exemptions clearly indicated, as well as the new released paragraphs 2, 14, and option 2 in Annex C.

Cabinet Papers- I have concluded that the original decision to not disclose those papers should be upheld under exemption at section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA. I have also reconsidered the public interest test, and have concluded that, for the reasons set out in our initial response, the public interest test favours upholding the application of the exemption and withholding the information.

Legal Advice- Moreover, I am upholding the application of the exemption at section 36(1) to a small amount of information within the Cabinet papers and to one other document in full. This exemption applies for the reasons set out in our initial response – the information is legal advice and disclosure would breach legal professional privilege. I have also reconsidered the public interest test, and have concluded that, for the reasons set out in our initial response, the public interest test favours upholding the application of the exemption and withholding the information.

New Document- Whilst conducting the review, I found an additional briefing document for the debate in Parliament that was not included in the original response. Most of the document is out of scope, however, there is one paragraph in scope about the raising of the Palestinian flag. I have attached this new paragraph in the information attached to this letter.

I hope that this new information helps answer your query about the reasons, evidence and justification the Scottish Government decided to fly the Palestinian flag in 2025, as well as some of the communications around it.

You also asked about the evidence and criteria used by the Protocol and Honours Team that cleared the First Minister to fly a flag that is not on the approved flags list. Document 1, which is now correctly attached to this reply shows this information. Additionally, I would like to clarify that the applicable part of the Scottish Government Flag Flying Guidance, which was shared with you initially, is that “All other requests to fly flags must be cleared in advance by: The First Minister” and “Other flags should not normally be flown from Scottish Government buildings”. As shown in the information contained in Document 1, following a discussion with his Cabinet Secretaries, the First Minister requested that the Palestinian flag be flown for the duration of the Parliamentary activities around Palestine on 3 September 2025.

Finally, you asked about the evidence that the flying of the flag of Palestine complies with the Ministerial Code and Civil Service Code. The original reply you received explained that “the decision to fly the Palestinian flags from Scottish Government buildings was made by the First Minister, in line with Scottish Government Flag flying Guidance. Neither the Civil Service Code or the Ministerial Code are engaged”. The information you should have received on this matter is that the Scottish Government does not hold recorded information about discussion of the compliance of the flying of the Palestinian flag and the Ministerial Code or the Civil Service Code. This means I am providing with you a formal notification under section.17 of FOISA that this information is not held.

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 202500488559 - Information Released - Annex

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