Tag Archives: Scottish Information Commissioner

Post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

The Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee of the Scottish Parliament is currently calling for views on the operation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”) as part of its post-legislative scrutiny of FOISA. I have submitted a response to the Committee, which addresses five issues in respect of FOISA (and also touches, where applicable, on the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (“the Scottish EIRs”)). You can read my full submission here [pdf], but below is a summary of what I have discussed in my submission to the Committee.

The first thing that I have suggested is a possible change to the code of practice issued by the Scottish Ministers under section 60 of FOISA to deal with concerns raised about the processing of personal data in connection with FOI requests. I have covered this issue in more detail on this blog before. In my response I have suggested that this issue is probably best addressed through the code of practice rather than through a change to the wording of the Act.

I have also suggested that any concerns around a failure to make or keep records would not be an appropriate issue to address in the context of FOISA; however, it might be worthy of its own legislative project in the event that Parliament considered that this was an issue. This arises out of concerns expressed that FOISA has resulted in records not being made or kept so as to avoid the need to disclose them. I argue that it is inappropriate to bring this into FOISA; as FOISA has a different focus. FOISA is about giving a right of access to information that exists at the time it is requested and not about what information should be kept by Scottish public authorities. Furthermore, to introduce potentially detailed and technical rules around the making and keeping of records into FOISA could over-complicate FOISA.

I have also suggested that section 48 of FOISA be repealed; or, at least, amended. There is no equivalent provision within the UK Act and there doesn’t seem to be any issues under that legislative scheme that would suggest an outright ban on the Scottish Information Commissioner being able to look these requests is appropriate. Furthermore, it has a significant effect on requesters appeal rights and the alternatives available are not a proper substitute for an investigation by the Commissioner. In this context I also raised concerns about whether section 48 is compatible with our EU obligations as it also extends to requests made under the Scottish EIRs.

I have also suggested amending section 56 of FOISA so that appeals against decisions no longer go directly to the Court of Session. For quite a long time I have considered that this appeal route is prohibitive to most requesters and also to Scottish public authorities (especially smaller authorities with less in the way of financial resources). I’ve also suggested that this has affected the development of the law and Scotland lacks the same level of judicial authority in terms of what different parts of FOISA mean that exists under the UK Act. I’ve suggested, at the very least, appeals should be made to the new Upper Tribunal for Scotland in the first instance. I contrasted the Scottish appellate structure with that which applies under the UK Act. I have also suggested that the present appellate structure may mean that the law doe snot comply with EU law in respect of the Scottish EIRs.

Finally, I’ve also suggested that FOISA be updated to take account of advances in technology and in particular to allow the Scottish Information Commissioner to serve formal notices by E-mail rather than requiring them to be served by recorded delivery post (as is currently the case).

Alistair Sloan

If you would like advice or assistance in respect of freedom of information matters or any other information law matter then contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880 or by E-mail. You can also follow our dedicated information law twitter account.

Call for Views: Post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

In January it was announced that the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee would undertake formal post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The Committee is now seeking views on the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and is inviting submissions to reach it by 5pm on Friday 10^th May 2019. The call for views asks the following five questions:

In your view, what effects has the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) had, both positive and negative?
Have the policy intentions of FOISA been met and are they being delivered? If not, please give reasons for your response.
Are there any issues in relation to the implementation of and practice in relation to FOISA? If so, how should they be addressed?
Could the legislation be strengthened or otherwise improved in any way? Please specify why and in what way.
Are there any other issues you would like to raise in connection with the operation of FOISA?

It is not necessary to answer all five questions and the Committee is also inviting other information relevant to the remit.

Once the Committee has received the written evidence, it will consider it all and will thereafter decide who it wishes to take oral evidence from. It is expected that the oral evidence sessions will take place towards the end of the year.

Alistair Sloan

We are able to provide advice and assistance in connection with a range of Freedom of Information matters, including appeals against decisions of both the Scottish and UK Information Commissioners. If you would like to do discuss a Freedom of Information, or any other Information Law, matter with us then you can contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880. Alternatively, you can send him an E-mail.

Post-Legislative Scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

For some time now the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee has been considering whether to undertake post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The Committee’s decision on whether to undertake post-legislative scrutiny of FOISA was delayed while they awaited the Scottish Information Commissioner concluding his intervention in respect of the Scottish Government.

Yesterday, after hearing again from the Scottish Information Commissioner and his Head of Enforcement, the Committee took a decision (in private), as recorded in the Minutes [pdf], to undertake post-legislative scrutiny of FOISA.

It is not yet clear how the Committee will undertake its post-legislative scrutiny or what the timetable will be; but what can now be said is that there will be formal post-legislative scrutiny of FOISA by a committee of the Scottish Parliament for the first time since FOISA was enacted in 2002. Much has changed since FOISA was enacted and while the Act generally performs fairly well, there are undoubtedly some areas which are ripe for improvement.

Once we know more about the details of the post-legislative scrutiny I will, of course, blog about it.

Alistair Sloan

Environmental Information request appeals and prohibitive costs: new Court of Session rules

The Court of Session has made new rules with a view to preventing court actions relating to the environment from being “prohibitively expensive”. The new court rules introduced orders which will be known as “prohibitive expenses orders”. These new rules are of relevance to readers of this blog as they will apply to appeals against decisions of the Scottish Information Commissioner to the Court of Session where the decision being appealed relates to a request for environmental information under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs).

The EIRs give effect in Scotland (in relation to environmental information held by Scottish public authorities – environmental information held by UK public authorities is covered by the Environmental Information Regulations 2004) to Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information. [pdf] This European Directive in turn gives effect to the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters [pdf] (‘the Aarhus Convention’). Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention requires that individuals have access to justice in respect of environmental matters and that this should not be “prohibitively expensive”.

With some of the background to these new rules (briefly) explained, what exactly do these new rules mean? In short, they mean that anyone who brings an appeal to the Court of Session against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner in respect of a request for environmental information (whether or not the requester knew at the time of making their request that the request was a request for environmental information or not – knowing exactly what is environmental information under the EIRs can be very difficult) can make a motion to the court to have their liability in expenses limited should they ultimately be unsuccesful in their appeal.

A person bringing an appeal to the Court of Session against a relevant decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner will be required to make a motion for a prohibitive expenses order as soon as is reasonably practicable after becoming aware that the appeal is defended. In essence, an appellant will need to make a motion relatively quickly after Answers to the Note of Appeal are intimated to them and any unreasonable delay in doing so is likely going to have an impact upon whether the court makes an order.

The new rules provide that proceedings are to be considered prohibitively expensive if the costs and expenses likely to be incurred by the applicant are likely to exceed the financial means of the party or where are objectively unreasonable having regard to six factors set out in the rules; including whether the applicant has reasonable prospects of success; the complexity of the relevant law and procedure; and whether the case is frivolous.

Where the court is satisfied that the proceedings are prohibitively expensive, it must make a prohibitive expenses order (in otherwords, if the test is met then the court has no discretion over whether an order is made or not). The order will limit the appellant’s expenses to the respondent to £5,000 (or such other sum as may be justified) and will limit the respondent’s expenses to the appellant to £30,000 (or such other sum as may be justified). It therefore seems as though it will be possible for a requester who intervenes in an appeal brought by the scottish public authority to apply to have their liability capped in line with the £5,000 figure rather than the £30,000. It also seems as though the court will have the discretion to cap the laibility at a lower or higher figure than £5,000 or £30,000.

It remains to be seen just how these new rules will operate in practice, but this is a good step forward. Appeals to the Inner House of the Court of Session are expensive and an unsuccessful appellant could face an expenses bill of many tens of thousands of pounds (in addition to their own legal fees). These new rules do not affect the availability of legal aid (or the rules that apply to expenses where an unsuccessful appellant is in receipt of legal aid). However, these rules will help people who are financially ineligible for legal aid, but are still financially unable to risk losing an appeal. Furthermore, legal aid can be difficult to obtain and therefore this provides a potential route for a person whose application for legal aid has been refused (although, it remains to be seen whether the timeframe for making a motion for a “prohibitive expenses order” is flexible enough to deal with situations where someone has applied for, but ultimately been refused, legal aid). It also remains to be seen how the court will deal with an application for a prohibitive expenses order where legal aid has been refused on the basis of the merits of the appeal rather than on financial eligibility (the tests do, at first blush, appear to be different with perhaps a lower threshold applying to the question of merits in a motion for a prohibitive expenses order as opposed to an application for legal aid).

These new rules might see an increase in EIR appeals to the Court of Session (indeed, we might see an appeal be brought – none have ever been brought, at least so far as I’m aware, in the almost 14 years that people have been able to request environmental information in Scotland). People who are unable to financially risk losing an appeal will now be able to know what their liability in expenses will be in advance of expenses mounting up. This could have financial implications for the Scottish Information Commissioner if his office starts to see an increase in litigation and also for Scottish public authorities who may ultimately decide to become involved in appeals brought by requesters against decisions of the Commissioner.

Alistair Sloan

If you would like advice or assistance in respect of requests for environmental information or any other information law matter, you can contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880 or by E-mail.

Update 28/11/2018 – The Scottish Information Commissioner’s office has advised that there was one appeal brought against one of their decisions relating to a request for environemntal information. The appeal was brought by a public authority and was abandoned by the public authority.

Scottish Information Commissioner’s 2017/18 Annual Report

Friday 28 September 2018 was International right to Know Day, a day designed to highlight the public’s right to know and to campaign for FOI laws. Scotland has had Freedom of Information laws in place since January 2005 and a similar statutory regime entered into force on the same date for information held by UK public bodies. The Scottish Information Commissioner used International right to Know Day to launch his office’s annual report [pdf].

In 2017/2018 the Commissioner’s office received a total of 507 appeals, up from 425 in 2016/2017 (but not the highest number received in any one year). Of the appeals that were received the vast majority (75%) were classed by the commissioner’s office as coming directly from individuals with the media accounting for 11% and commercial/private enterprises accounting for 3%.

In terms of which public authorities have their responses appealed to the Commissioner; local authorities still make up the largest percentage (although there was a fairly significant decrease in the percentage share of appeals from the previous year). Local authorities are followed the Scottish Government and its agencies and the police.

30% of the appeals made to the Scottish Information Commissioner were deemed to be invalid appeals; that is to say they were appeals that the Commissioner’s office could not investigate. The annual report reveals that among the most common reasons why an appeal was not valid are that the applicant had not made a request for review to the Scottish public authority (an appeal can only be made to the Scottish Commissioner after the Scottish public authority has reviewed its initial decision or failed to carry out a review of its initial decision that has been requested) and that the timescales for making FOI appeals within the Act had not been met. Requesters should remember that they should make requests for review within 40 working days of the date that the authority issued its response or the date that it should have responded where no response has been received. Furthermore, it should be remembered that appeals to the Commissioner should normally be made within 6 months of the date on which the authority responded to the review request or, where no response has been recieved to a request for an internal review, within 6 months of the date that the authority should have responded to the internal review.

Failure to respond appeals, that is an appeal which concerns a failure by an authority to respond to a request and/or request for review, continue to be a problem. In 2017/18 19% of the appeals handled by the Commissioner concerned a failure to respond; this is down slightly from the 20% it was in 2016/17, but is up from the 16% figure in 2015/16. These are fairly clear-cut appeals as an authority has either responded within the statutory timeframe not and they should be appeals that authorities can avoid fairly easily. No authority can be perfect 100% of the time and there will be cases where the inflexibility of the 20 working-day rule, in particular cases where the public interest is finely balanced or where third party consultation is required, will mean that breaches will occur; however, staying in contact with the requester can help to avoid these appeals even where the authority is technically in breach of the law.

Of the decisions made by the Commissioner in response to appeals under section 47 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, 65% resulted in a decision which was wholly or partially in favour of the requester.

Some interesting enforcement matters from within the report which are worthy of mention include:

Highland Council was issued with an Information Notice when it delayed in providing information to the Commissioner’s Office which was required in order to enable the Commissioner to investigate an appeal made to him by a requester.
The Commissioner also highlights that his office considered referring East Dunbartonshire Council to the Court of Session for failing to comply with one of his decisions (but in the end, it would appear that, such a step ultimately proved unnecessary).
The Commissioner refers to his high profile level 3 intervention in respect of the Scottish Government’s performance and culture in respect of FOI, which is still ongoing.
A less profile level 3 intervention by the Commissioner was the ongoing intervention in Police Scotland, which is now in the monitoring phase after an action plan was agreed between Police Scotland and the Commissioner. There were concerns about searching for and locating information to respond to information requests as well as concerns around record-keeping.
Two independent schools (which had become subject to FOI following the last extension of the Act by the Scottish Ministers) were subject to level 4 interventions where they had failed to adopt publication schemes as required by section 23 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The Commissioner’s report makes reference to three Court of Session cases in respect of decisions that it had made, one of which Inksters were instructed in by one of the parties. The number of appeals against decisions of the Scottish Information Commissioner remain particularly low (both appeals taken by requesters and Scottish public authorities); whether this is because the Commissioner’s office is doing a good job in terms of interpreting the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, or whether it has more to do with the significant costs to be faced by requesters and Scottish Public Authorities who decide to take an appeal to Scotland’s highest civil court is a matter which is very much open for debate.

There is lots of other useful information with the Commissioner’s annual report, but at the risk of this blog post becoming too unwieldy I shall leave it there.

Alistair Sloan

Whether you are a requester or a public authority we can provide you with advice and assistance on Freedom of Information matters. Contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880 or you can send him an E-mail. You can also follow our dedicated twitter account on information law matters.

Personal Data and FOI: to anonymise or not to anonymise

I recently wrote a blog post covering the release of third party personal data under freedom of information laws in both Scotland and the rest of the UK. Requests which seek the release of third party personal data, or where information within the scope of a FOI request constitutes the personal data of a third party, are the most common examples of where freedom of information and data protection overlap; however, they are not the only examples.

On Friday of last week, the Herald contained a piece covering calls which had been made to anonymise FOI requests which are sent to government advisers. These calls follow on from some high profile disagreements between the Scottish Government and journalists. The allegations levelled against the Scottish Government is that ministers and their advisers are having undue influence over what information is and is not released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002; in particular where the request comes from a journalist. The Scottish Information Commissioner is currently carrying out an “intervention” which is looking at this matter alongside one which has a wider remit in relation to the Scottish Government’s handling of FOI requests. It is understood that the Commissioner’s Office will report its findings of these interventions in the next month or so.

These wider issues are not, however, the focus of this blog post. Rather, the focus of this blog post relates to the call to anonymise FOI requests in this way and whether this is a practice that public authorities ought to be following in any event.

The General Data Protection Regulation and the Data protection Act 2018 now govern how organisations, such as public authorities, process personal data. Reducing the data protection framework down to its most basic requirement, data controllers should not be processing the personal data of a data subject unless they have a lawful basis to do so.

When a public authority circulates a request for information, or a proposed response to a request for information, that is not stripped of the personal data of the requester then that would amount to the processing of personal data of which the requester is the data subject. What is the lawful basis of processing in Article 6 of the GDPR which enables the public authority to process the requester’s personal data in that way? Clearly there is a need for the requester’s personal data to be processed in order to enable the response to be issued to the requester and there will no doubt be some central record which records who has made FOI requests, what the request was for and what the outcome of the request was – if only to enable the authority to respond to an internal review, appeal to the Commissioner or appeal to the tribunal/courts.

The Authority cannot possibly have the consent of the data subject to process their personal data by circulating it around the authority. Consent cannot be inferred in the way that would be necessary in order to rely upon consent. There’s no contract with the data subject which would require the processing of their personal data in this way.

Answering a FOI request is a legal obligation on behalf of the public authority, but is it necessary to provide the name of the requester to the department(s) who need to search for the information or to an official or adviser who is having in put into the response? Probably not, especially when set against the ‘applicant blind’ way in which FOI requests are supposed to be dealt with. Is it necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person? I’d have thought it unlikely. Again, it’s unlikely to be necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller. Finally, it’s unlikely that it would be necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party.

In short, it’s unlikely that it is necessary for those searching for the information or considering the proposed response to know who the requester is. There are, of course, situations where a different course might be required. For example, if considering refusing the request on the grounds that it is vexatious under section 14 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 or section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; it will often be necessary to speak with other areas of the organisation, especially persons responsible for handling complaints. In such circumstances it would be necessary for those being consulted to know the identity of the requester, otherwise the evidence required in order to justify reliance upon the vexatious provisions could not be gathered.

In normal circumstances, public authorities should probably be removing personal data such as a requester’s name, place of work and job title (where included) from a request before sending it out to those who need to perform searches for information or those who, in accordance with the authority’s internal procedures, need to approve responses before they’re issued. Only where the identity of the requester is directly relevant to the response, such as where consideration is being given to refusing the request on the grounds that it is vexatious, should the identity of the requester be disclosed otherwise it may amount to a breach of data protection law.

It may be relevant at this juncture to look, briefly, at the applicant blind requirement of freedom of information law. The applicant blind requirement is not specifically provided for within the relevant legislation; however, it has been understood for some considerable time that requests ought to be dealt with in a way that means that they are applicant blind. The applicant blind requirement is often largely over-stated. There are clearly situations where the applicant’s identity will be relevant; for example is it a request for that person’s own personal data or is it a vexatious/repeated request or are you aware of any disability which may mean that you need to make reasonable adjustments in terms of the Equality Act 2010? If public authorities applied the applicant blind requirement absolutely and slavishly, it would cause difficulties in those situations and also in others.

The purpose of the applicant blind test is to ensure that, other than where the exemption necessitates it, the requester’s identity does not form part of the decision in whether to apply an exemption or in the application of the public interest balancing test. Anonymising FOI requests when they go out to the wider organisation or to selected individuals for comment/approval assists to ensure that the applicant blind aspect of the FOI regime is also complied with.

Alistair Sloan

If you require advice and assistance in connection with a freedom of information or data protection matter then contact Alistair Sloan on 0141 229 0880. Alternatively you can send Alistair and E-mail.

Information Law Review of 2017

2018 is now upon us and this is a big year in the field of Information Law, the General Data Protection Regulation will at last become applicable in the United Kingdom. If you are a data controller or a data processor, your preparations for the GDPR should be well under way; however, if you have not yet started to prepare for these regulations then it is not yet too late. The lesser known brother of the GDPR also kicks in this year, the Law Enforcement Directive, which governs the processing of personal data by law enforcement agencies.

However, before I get stuck into what is coming this year in the field of Information law, I want to take a moment to look back at some of the things that happened in 2017. At the tail end of 2017 the High Court in England issued its anticipated judgment in the case of Various Claimants v WM Morrisons Supermarket PLC [2017] EWHC 3113 (QB). This represented a significant development in the data protection field and opens up a much wider range of circumstances in which data subjects can sue a data controller under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

In October 2017, the Irish High Court made a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union at the request of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner seeking a preliminary ruling on “Privacy Shield”, the successor to the Safe Harbour rules which had previously been held to be unlawful by the European Court.

In September 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision concerning the application of the right to a private and family life contained in Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights to the monitoring of a person’s communications by their employer.

Also in September 2017, the UK Government published its Data Protection Bill which will replace the Data Protection Act 1998, extends GDPR standards to areas not within the competence of the European Union and implements the Law Enforcement Directive, among other things.

Now looking ahead to 2018, it is possible that we might see a decision from the English Court of Appeal in the Morrisons case referred to above, the judge having granted permission to Morrisons to appeal his findings in relation to vicarious liability. We may also see claims for compensation being made based upon the Morrisons decision.

In Scotland, we will be expecting to see some more progress made by the Scottish Parliament in its consideration of the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill. I provided written evidence to the Education and Skills Committee on this Bill last year. The Committee has had some difficulty in completing its Stage 1 consideration of the Bill and the previous deadline of 22 November 2017 for completion of Stage 1 was removed by the Scottish Parliament.

It is also possible that we will see the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative scrutiny Committee begin to undertake a post-legislative inquiry into the operation of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (or announce that such an inquiry will take place in due course). If such an inquiry does take place, it will be the first time that there will have been a complete review of the Scottish FOI Act and how it is operating.

Staying on the subject of Freedom of Information in Scotland, we are likely to see the outcome of the Scottish Information Commissioner’s formal intervention in respect of the Scottish Government’s compliance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We are also likley to see an Order being made under Section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 designating Registered Social Landlords as scottish public authorities with effect from 1st April 2019.

By the end of 2018 we should also hopefully have a much better idea as to what the UK’s relationship with the European Union will be after it leaves, and in particular what impact this will have on data protection and privacy law in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

There will no doubt be a raft of new court decisions in relation to both Privacy/Data Protection and Freedom of Information over the course of the next 12 months and I will attempt to address the most important and unusual decisions here on the Information Law Blog from Inksters Solicitors.

Alistair Sloan

If you would like advice or assistance with Privacy and Data Protection matters (including GDPR preparation) or with UK and Scottish Freedom of Information requests contact Alistair Sloan on 0345 450 0123 or you can E-mail him.

FOISA Vexatious decision notice appealed to Court of Session

Section 14 in both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”) and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”) enable an authority not to comply with a request for information that is vexatious. What is meant by vexatious in Section 14 of FOIA has been the subject of litigation all the way to the Court of Appeal and the leading authority is Dransfield and another v The Information Commissioner and others [2015] EWCA Civ 454; [2015] 1 WLR 5316. However, there has not yet been any litigation in Scotland on the meaning of vexatious within Section 14 of FOISA; the Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance [pdf] on the subject appears to draw heavily on the Dransfield decision.

Those who make a point of reading the Scottish Information Commissioner’s regular round-ups of decisions will note that the most recent one informs us of an appeal to the Court of Session against a decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner which upheld the authority’s use of Section 14. If the appeal proceeds, it will be the first time that the Scottish courts will have considered Section 14 of FOISA.

It will be interesting to see whether the Court of Session adopts the Dransfield position, or whether it takes a different approach to vexatious requests in Scotland. If the Court of Session does publish an Opinion, we will of course cover it on this blog.

Alistair Sloan

We are able to provide advice and assistance in connection with a range of Freedom of Information matters, including appeals against decisions of both the Scottish and UK Information Commissioners. If you would like to do discuss a Freedom of Information, or any other Information Law, matter with us then you can contact Alistair Sloan on 0345 450 0123. Alternatively, you can send him an E-mail.

FOI in Scotland in 2016/17: The Scottish Information Commissioner’s Annual Report

Margaret Keyes, Acting Scottish Information Commissioner chose yesterday, International Right to Know Day, to launch her office’s annual report [pdf] for the 2016/17 year. The report finds that the public’s awareness of the right to ask and obtain information from public bodies is high, at 85%.

The Scottish Information Commissioner is a statutory office holder charged with enforcing the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and the INSPIRE (Scotland) Regulations 2009. The Commissioner’s office, amongst other things, investigates complaints made by individuals and organisations who have exercised their rights under these various pieces of legislation, but who are dissatisfied with how the Scottish public authority has handled their request.

In 2016/17 the Commissioner received a total of 425 appeals and issued a total of 252 formal, legally enforceable, decision notices. Most of the appeals received related to requests made under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 with the remainder relating to requests which fell to be dealt with under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. The Commissioner received no appeals under the INSPIRE (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (although these Regulations are much more specialised and are probably only really of interest/relevance to a limited number of people).

There lies a right to appeal against formal notices issued by the Commissioner, including a formal decision notices, to the Court of Session. A very small number of appeals were made to the Court of Session during the 2016/17 year, according to the Commissioner’s report (some of which Inksters were instructed in by the Appellant).

The Commissioner has a range of enforcement tools which can be deployed. One of those is to issue an ‘enforcement notice’ which requires a Scottish public authority to take specified steps to comply with the legislation. In 2016/17, the Commissioner issued four enforcement notices (which represented the first enforcement notices ever issued by the Commissioner).

Where the Commissioner reasonably requires information in order to (a) assess whether a Scottish public authority has complied, or is complying, with the legislation; or (b) assess whether a Scottish public authority has complied, or is complying, with the statutory codes of practice issued by the Scottish Ministers, the Commissioner can issue an Information Notice. In 2016/17, the Commissioner issued 3 such notices.

The Commissioner’s decision notices are legally enforceable and where the Commissioner considers that a Scottish public authority is failing to comply with a decision notice the Commissioner has the power to certify this to the Court of Session. The Court can ultimately, after making enquiries, deal with a Scottish public authority which has failed to comply with a decision notice as if they were in contempt of Court. The Commissioner has never made such a certification, but the 2016/17 annual report reveals that the Commissioner came close to doing so during the course of that year.

On the whole it seems to have been a busy year for the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Office; although, the number of appeals received in 2016/17 was lower than in 2015/16.

Alistair Sloan

We are able to provide advice and assistance in connection with a range of Freedom of Information matters, including appeals against decisions of both the Scottish and UK Information Commissioners. If you would like to do discuss a Freedom of Information, or any other Information Law, matter with us then you can contact Alistair Sloan on 0345 450 0123. Alternatively, you can send him an E-mail.