Current status: Answered by George Adam on 23 March 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that 180 Freedom of Information requests to the Scottish Government regarding Ferguson Marine and Scotland's ferry network remain outstanding, with many not being processed within the statutory timeframe.
The Scottish Government regrets any instance in which the statutory 20 working day deadline for responding to information requests is not met. It remains committed to its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act to ensure openness and transparency. The Scottish Government is working at pace to deliver the actions in its FOI Improvement Plan, including the target agreed with the Scottish Information Commissioner of answering 95% of requests on time.
The Scottish Government has received and responded to a large number of requests relating to the topics the Member highlights. The figure quoted by the Member relates to the number of such requests which remained outstanding in August 2022. Considerable progress in responding to outstanding requests has been made since that time.