Swinney: Information Commissioner attack over Salmond files 'a bit strange'
The First Minister said his government is ‘very good at handling freedom of information requests’
John Swinney has defended his government’s record after it was accused of using “preposterous and unacceptable” excuses to prevent legal advice linked to an ethics probe into former first minister Nicola Sturgeon from being released.
Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton said Holyrood ministers had “once again failed” to comply with one of his decisions regarding the disclosure of information.
Mr Hamilton has already taken unprecedented court action against the Scottish government as part of a long-running dispute over the release of information from an official inquiry which cleared Ms Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code during an investigation into the behaviour of her predecessor Alex Salmond.
But with the Information Commissioner saying he can “no longer trust the government to handle this information unsupervised”, he is now consulting lawyers over fresh court action relating to the release of legal advice given to the government.
Appearing on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Swinney said: “I find this a bit of a strange comment from the commissioner because just the other week there, the commissioner was saying that generally the Scottish government is very good at handling freedom of information requests.”
He added: “In the last month, we’ve had 97 per cent performance of meeting freedom of information requests on time, so the government is really very good at dealing with freedom of information.”
The First Minister said this particular example was “very tricky”, because the government “has got to be mindful of court orders” made to protect the identities of the complainers in the criminal case against Mr Salmond.
Mr Salmond was cleared of multiple charges of sexual assault at the High Court in Edinburgh in March 2020.
“The government is conforming to its legal duties and to make sure that we comply with court orders, and I will do nothing, absolutely nothing that risks disclosing the identities or leading to the disclosure of the identities of individuals who have been victims in cases of alleged sexual assault,” Mr Swinney said.
Mr Hamilton previously launched a fierce attack on the Scottish Government over the latest row.
“The excuses I have now been given, both in writing and in person, are preposterous and unacceptable,” he said.
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