Minutes sent by Lord Advocates to First Minister and government staff advising of upcoming court cases: FOI release

Information requested

Please send me all minutes sent by Lord Advocates to First Ministers and government staff advising them of high profile cases due in court.

The Lord Advocate said the minute on the Murrell case on 19 January 2026 was part of a routine series of minutes and these minutes do not contain any privileged information that would prejudice
the court case.

There is therefore no legal or FOI exemption prohibiting publication of these minutes.

Response

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.

Please note that, due to the size of Document 5, it will be sent to you in a separate email. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under section 26( c ) and 35(1)(b) FOISA apply. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Section 26(c)

Section 26(c) (Contempt of Court) applies to some of the information you have requested because it relates to ongoing legal proceedings. 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 35(1)(b)

Section 35(1)(b) applies to some of the information you have requested because it relates to an ongoing police investigation.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release of information as part of an open and transparent government. However, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of an ongoing criminal investigation.

You may wish to consider making a request to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in respect of information held by that office in the form of correspondence between Lords Advocate and First Ministers about high profile cases. FOI requests can be made to: FOI@copfs.gov.uk

Due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents referred to above.
If you wish to consider, please contact us at the address below and we will be happy to provide.

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 202600507614 - Information Released - Documents 1 - 4

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