First Minister memorandum or written briefings concerning live or ongoing criminal proceedings: FOI release

Information requested

I am writing to seek clarification and transparency following your recent evidence to the Scottish Parliament regarding the memorandum you provided to the First Minister on 19 January concerning the prosecution of Mr Peter Murrell.

In your explanation, you indicated that the purpose of the memorandum was to ensure that the First Minister was appropriately advised of matters relevant to live criminal proceedings, particularly in order to avoid any risk of prejudicing the fairness of the case or breaching contempt of court rules. Given the significance of that justification, it is important to understand whether this was an isolated instance or part of an established and consistent practice.

To that end, I would be grateful if you could confirm:

• Whether you, or your office, have issued similar memoranda or written briefings to the First Minister, or to previous First Ministers, concerning live or ongoing criminal proceedings in other cases;
• If so, how many such memoranda have been issued in the past five years, and in what general circumstances they were considered necessary; and
• Whether you intend to publish or otherwise make available examples of such memoranda, suitably redacted where necessary, in order to demonstrate consistency of approach and to provide public reassurance regarding the impartial operation of Scotland’s prosecution system.

Given the unique constitutional position of the Lord Advocate as both head of the prosecution service and a member of the Scottish Government, public confidence in the independence and impartiality of prosecutorial decisions is of paramount importance. Greater clarity on the precedent and process surrounding such communications would help ensure that confidence is maintained.

Response

I enclose below the information you requested.

This is a list of eight minutes provided to the First Minister from both Law Officers (the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland) in the past five years. In terms of the second part of your second request (“in what general circumstances they were considered necessary”) this is evident from the list of eight minutes below and in Document 1. This document, which extends beyond the last 5 years also answers your third request above by providing numerous examples of the minutes.

1. February 2026 - Operation Amphitoky
2. February 2026 - Operation Lazer
3. March 2025 and January 2026 - Operation Branchform
4. July 2025 - Aberdeen Sheriff Court case
5. July 2025 - Operation Cordgrass
6. July 2025 - Operation Biforous
7. August 2024 - Lockerbie case
8. June 2022 - Investigation of the deaths of William Lindsay and Katie Allan

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have most the information you have requested. This is because decisions about the drafting of such minutes are for the Lord Advocate in her role as the head of the system of criminal prosecutions in Scotland. As a result, the information that you seek may be held by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. You can make an FOI request to them at FOI@COPFS.gov.uk

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 202600509482 - Information released - Document 1

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