New year brings new rights

New year brings new rights

“This freedom of information law provides Scotland’s citizens with an important new right – the right to access information held by almost all of Scotland’s public authorities, from the Scottish Executive down to your local GP. The first of January will therefore bring about a fundamental change in the relationship between citizens and authorities, ensuring that it is more open and more equal than ever before. This can only be a good thing – good for individuals, good for authorities, and good for Scotland as a whole.”
Kevin Dunion, Scottish Information Commissioner

Even where information falls under an exemption, in most cases information must still be released if the public interest in release outweighs that in withholding it:

Ten things you should know about FOI (Scottish Information Commissioner's website)