Covid Inquiry documentation: FOI release

Information requested

1. Could you supply all documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings and analysis, about John Swinney's appearance at the UK Covid Inquiry on October 9 2025, between September 15 2025 to November 1 2025.

2. Could you supply all documentation held by the Scottish Government, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), minutes/notes from meetings, briefings and analysis, about the publication of the Covid Inquiry Module 2, between November 15 2025 and December 20 2025.

Response

1. I enclose a copy of documentation held by the Scottish Government from 15 September 2025 to 01 November 2025, including correspondence sent and received (including internal), briefings/notes from meetings and the UK Covid Inquiry hearing in regard to John Swinney’s appearance at the UK Covid Inquiry on 09 October 2025.

However, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance I am unable to provide some of the information you have requested because the following exemptions under FOISA apply to that information: section 25 (1) - information otherwise accessible; section 30(b)(i) -free and frank provision of advice; section 30 (b) (ii) -free and frank exchange of views; section 30(c) - (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs); section 36 (1) - confidentiality; ; section 37(1)(b)(ii) - information in documents created by a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration; and section 38(1)(b) - personal information.

The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below. I have also redacted material which is outwith the scope of your request and is contained within the documents that I am providing to you.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA (Information otherwise accessible), I 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 website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

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• INQ000588049.pdf
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• INQ000649659-1.pdf
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• https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/17111107/INQ000649083.pdf
• covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/09195252/INQ000588143.pdf
• covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/16134502/INQ000257925.pdf

Exemptions under section 30(b)(i) (free and frank provision of advice) and section 30(b)(ii) (free and frank exchange of views) apply to some of the information requested because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice and the free and frank exchange of views. These exemptions recognise the need for officials to have a private space within which to provide free and frank advice to Ministers and to exchange free and frank views with Ministers for the purpose of deliberation. Disclosing the content of free and frank advice on policy matters relating to the response to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the Scottish Government’s ongoing engagement with the UK Inquiry regarding matters that relate to the inquiry’s independent investigations will substantially inhibit the provision of such advice and the exchange of views in the future. For these reasons, I have concluded that these exemptions apply.

These exemptions are subject to the ‘public interest test.’ Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, I have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemptions. I recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide full and frank advice to Ministers and exchange free and frank views as part of the process of exploring and refining the Government’s position on engagement with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. This private thinking space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered, based on the best available advice, so that good decisions can be taken. Premature disclosure is likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Ministers and officials, which in turn will undermine the quality of the Scottish Government’s engagement with the Inquiry.

An exemption under section 30(c) - prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs - applies to some of the information requested.

This exemption applies to some of the information requested which relates to correspondence between the UK Covid-19 inquiry and the Scottish Government. Disclosing information regarding matters that relate to the inquiry’s independent investigations, which are currently ongoing, is likely to cause harm to the ability of the inquiry to conduct its investigations as effectively and thoroughly as required under its terms of reference. For these reasons, I have concluded that the exemption applies.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test.’ Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, I have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. I recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the process of how the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry's conducts its investigations. Premature disclosure of this information is likely to undermine the quality of the Scottish Government’s ongoing engagement with the Inquiry which would not be in the public interest.

An exemption under section 36(1) of FOISA (Confidentiality) applies to some of the information requested. This is because it is legal advice and disclosure would breach legal professional privilege.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, I have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. I have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. I recognise that there is public interest in release as part of open and transparent government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients, to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to seek and receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation.

An exemption applied to some of the information you have requested under FOISA section 37(1)(b)(ii) a document created by a person conducting an inquiry for the purposes of the inquiry. In this case, this relates to confidential requests for information by the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry for the purposes of the conduct and administration of the inquiry. As some of the information has been created by the UK inquiry it is subject to these absolute exemptions and, therefore, cannot be disclosed at this time. These exemptions apply because the Scottish Government only holds this information due to it being created by or for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. The Scottish Government does not hold the information for any other business purpose.

The exemption under section 37(1)(b)(ii) is not subject to the 'public interest test', so I am not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names and contact details of junior Scottish Government staff, and disclosing it 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 I am not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

2. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the cost of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that in order to locate and retrieve that information, we would need to conduct a search of email records held by staff across the Scottish Government. These documents would have to be sifted for relevancy, processed and then redacted, to fulfil the requests. The resource required for this exceeds the upper cost limit of £600 in this instance. 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 wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. This could be achieved through restricting your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government and specifying the search terms, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You could also narrow the timeframe or refine your request to information held on our electronic record management system. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

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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 202600501091 - Information released - Documents

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