Chamber and committees

Staff working on responding to the judicial review are civil servants who receive a salary rather than being separately remunerated for dealing with particular matters. In addition, they do not record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters as a matter of course. It is therefore not possible to say how many hours were spent by civil servants involved in this work. Staff working on the judicial review were in band A, B, C and the Senior Civil Service.

As the Minister for Parliamentary Business & Veterans reported to the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee on 19 December 2019, we have a rough number for the cost to the Scottish Government of dealing with FOI.

In 2012, the Scottish Government undertook an exercise aimed at evaluating the cost of dealing with FOI. Dealing with an FOI request generally involves following a number of distinct steps and work was carried out on a sample of cases to estimate how much time, broken down by staff band, was spent on each step. This was used to develop an estimate of the cost for handling requests, reviews and appeals. The figures were uprated for inflation in 2019. This approach was a bespoke exercise that looked at the steps in handling an FOI and the Scottish Government has not conducted a similar exercise for conducting litigation.

Staff working on responding to the judicial review are civil servants who receive a salary rather than being separately remunerated for dealing with particular matters. In addition, they do not record the proportion of their time that they spend working on particular matters as a matter of course. It is therefore not possible to say how many hours were spent by civil servants involved in this work.

The number of tests carried out at Helensburgh on 27-28 July 2020 = 37 (18 on 27 July and 19 on 28 July)

The mobile testing unit in Dumbarton was set up on 3 September and no information exists for the period 28 July - 2 August.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any mobile testing units (MTUs) closing due to lack of booked appointments.

The only occasions where MTUs have had to close have been due to adverse weather conditions or other site issues such as unplanned building works.

Please find list of dates attended each site and the number of tests conducted as of 15 September 2020.

Helensburgh

20 July – 0 tests

21 July - 13 tests

27 July - 18 tests

28 July – 19 tests

3 August – 22 tests

4 August – 33 tests

10 August – 30 tests

11 August – 33 tests

17 August – 48 tests

18 August – 105 tests

24 August – 245 tests

25 August – 296 tests

30 August – 204 tests

31 August – 279 tests

1 September – 247 tests

7 September – 288 tests

10 September – 125 tests

14 September – 121 tests

Dumbarton

3 September – 22 tests

5 September – 58 tests

7 September – 22 tests

9 September – 154 tests

11 September – 73 tests

13 September – 14 tests

15 September – 197 tests

A Mobile Testing Unit has not yet deployed to Vale of Leven.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31683 on 24 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Yes. The Scottish Government welcomes all opportunities to identify ways in which its policies and practices can be continuously improved.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31683 on 24 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31683 on 24 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government does not apply any hierarchy of status to inquiries established under the Inquiries Act 2005 and Parliamentary Inquiries. Ministers recognise the value and importance of both, albeit noting that they have a different legal basis.

Maintaining legal professional privilege is fundamental to good government in line with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, the administration of justice and the rule of law. As set out in the response to PQ S5W-31274 on 1 September 2020, Scottish Ministers have authorised the disclosure of legal advice in exceptional circumstances only. The Scottish Ministers did not impose a restriction notice on the disclosure of legal advice to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry or the (UK) Infected Blood Inquiry; in relation to the Trams Inquiry, disclosure was for the limited purpose of enabling the Inquiry to determine whether the documents were privileged, and no material which was privileged was disclosed further.

There is no single test of "exceptionality" for determining whether it is appropriate to waive confidentiality. Whilst waiver will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, each situation is considered on its own merits.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx