900 FOI requests submitted to the Scottish Executive to date

900 FOI requests submitted to the Scottish Executive to date

The Scottish Executive has received around 900 requests under the freedom of information legislation. Over two-thirds of the questions received were from journalists.

Figures released to the Scotsman newspaper - under the freedom of information rules - revealed that 17 per cent of requests were rejected on the grounds that the answers would include policy information for ministers, which is exempt. Approximately 200 questions were not answered because officials in the Executive decided that doing so was not in the public interest. 107 rejections were reviewed by civil servants and eight decisions were fully overturned.

Freedom of information leads to a media free-for-all (The Scotsman, 25 May 2005)