Information on Freedom of Information requests received by the Scottish Executive, including summaries of outcomes where requests have been refused in full or in part
1. Every request for information which the Scottish Executive receives is handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In general, requests for information are handled routinely, and are not all recorded or counted centrally. However, in line with centrally produced guidance (which is available via the Scottish Executive's website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI/19260/20126), some requests for information are recorded centrally. Up to and including Friday 27 May, 1116 requests for information have been centrally recorded by the Executive's Freedom of Information Unit.
2. While we try to make information available wherever possible, there are instances when the information is withheld as being exempt. It is not always the case that all information is withheld as being exempt; often only part of the information relating to a request is withheld. Up to and including Friday 27 May the Freedom of Information Unit had centrally recorded that 407 requests for information have been refused in full or in part.
3. The Freedom of Information Unit logs a summary of each centrally recorded request which details the key points of the request and the information requested, and a summary of the outcome which details if information was either provided, partially withheld or fully withheld and the section(s) to which exempt information applies.
4. It is our policy that, where we release information in response to a FOI request, we recognise that it will usually be of interest to the wider public in addition to the original applicant. We therefore also publish information which has been released to an applicant on the Scottish Executive website. Our policy on the wider dissemination of information which is disclosed in response to FOI requests, and our disclosure log can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI/19260/20126.
Details of Freedom of Information requests received by the Scottish Executive (up to and including 27 May), which have been refused in full or in part
The attached list provides a summary of each request for which we know the request was either refused in full or in part. It includes a description of the sections to which exempt information applies. This list does not include requests for which we do not hold the information requested, the information is considered to fall under section 3(2)(a)(ii) of the Act, and the list does not include certain personal identifiers for Data Protection reasons. Please note that this list details the outcome of the initial request; the applicant is entitled to an internal review of this decision and it is possible for the initial decision to be reconsidered at this stage.
PDF File: List of FOI Requests and Outcomes