Minister for Parliamentary Business response to the Scottish Information Commissioner

Daren Fitzhenry
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
KY16 9DS

22 November 2017

Dear Daren

Thank you for your letter of 15 November following our meeting on 25 October. I very much welcomed this initial opportunity for positive and productive discussion across the range of issues.

Thank you for your comments on the Scottish Government's response to the current intervention, in which you noted the considerable improvement that has been achieved over the last 5 months. I outlined in our discussion some of the measures we have taken and highlighted the commitment across Government to meet the agreed targets and to secure improvement more generally. I look forward to further discussion as you review outcomes at the end of the current monitoring period.

We also discussed the Scottish Parliament's call for an independent inquiry into how the Scottish Government deals with FOI requests. As you know I made clear to Parliament during the debate on 21 June the Government's view that it is for the Scottish Information Commissioner to undertake such investigation. As you note in your letter, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has also agreed that the Commissioner may be an appropriate independent person to undertake the inquiry.

I welcome therefore you commitment to explore the carrying out of a further intervention into the Scottish Government's FOI practice, beyond the specific issue of compliance with timescales. I look forward to engaging with your office, both as the process of scoping the intervention develops and throughout the intervention itself.

Joe FitzPatrick

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