Question reference: S6W-25081
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 8 February 2024
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Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any record of
correspondence, notes, emails, text or WhatsApp messages, as well as the
documents themselves, in the month of March 2021, between or on behalf of James
Hamilton and civil servants or Scottish Government ministers, regarding the
redactions made to the version of the Hamilton Report that was published on 22
March 2021.
Answer
Mr Hamilton’s report was published on 22 March 2021. In his letter, which is published alongside the report, Mr Hamilton makes clear that redactions were necessary in order to comply with the court orders in place (made by Lord Woolman and Lady Dorrian), in order to avoid the risk of jigsaw identification.
It would not be appropriate to publish further material that was provided in confidence to Mr Hamilton for the purpose of his investigation. Following a Freedom of Information request for the full text of the Hamilton Report, the Scottish Government provided the Scottish Information Commissioner with the full text of the report, and, in Decision 135/2022 , the Commissioner confirmed that he was satisfied that disclosing the information would lead to the identification of complainers, either directly or indirectly, contrary to the civil and criminal orders, and that the Scottish Government had complied with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act in responding to that request.