Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-25621

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the potential issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system in Scotland, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding whether it plans to proceed with emergency legislation in order to quash wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters and mistresses that were based on Horizon evidence.

I refer the Member to the answer to PQ S6W-26520 on 18 March 2024 for information about correspondence between myself and UK Government Ministers on this matter.

The UK Government announced on 22 February that they will introduce legislation to reverse only the convictions of sub-postmasters convicted by courts in England and Wales and introduced a Bill in the Westminster Parliament on 13 March. Scottish Government officials participate in a Devolved Administrations Working Group established by the UK Government which meets regularly to discuss issues relating to the development of legislation to quash the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses. This will assist in the development of equivalent legislation that will apply to sub-postmasters and post office employees convicted by courts in Scotland if the UK Government does not change its position on legislating only to reverse the convictions of those convicted in courts in England and Wales.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Question reference: S6W-25620

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the potential issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system in Scotland, whether it will publish any correspondence that it has had with the UK Government, including any related documents, regarding the method by which the sub-postmasters and mistresses whose wrongful convictions were based on Horizon evidence will be quashed.

The First Minister's letter to the Prime Minister of 10 January was published on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/first-minister-letter-prime-minister-post-office-horizon-cases/

Letters I sent to the Secretary of State for Justice, Alex Chalk MP, and the Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, Kevin Hollinrake MP and the letter which the Deputy First Minister sent to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations concerning legislation to reverse convictions that may have resulted from the use of Post Office Horizon evidence are available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-office-horizon/letters-to-uk-government.

It is for the UK Government to decide whether to publish letters sent with an expectation of confidence by UK Ministers to the Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6W-25625

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of emergency legislation to quash wrongful convictions in Scotland of sub-postmasters and mistresses that were based on evidence from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, and, if it is the case that it prefers an alternative approach, whether it will provide details of this.

Question reference: S6W-25623

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will update the Parliament on any progress being made in relation to the exoneration of sub-postmasters and mistresses whose wrongful convictions in Scotland were based on evidence from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.

Question reference: S6W-25622

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2024
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the potential issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system in Scotland, what its response is to the reported comments by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales regarding the use of legislation to quash wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters and mistresses that were based on Horizon evidence, and her suggestion of an “expedited process” whereby such convictions may be quashed in a matter weeks, including whether it would support such an expedited process for cases in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of the reported comments by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales.

Any expedited process for hearing appeals is a matter for the judiciary, who are independent of Scottish Ministers. This process would also only be able to consider those cases which have been referred back to the courts and would not be able to address, for example, any cases where consideration by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has been delayed by difficulties in obtaining timely information from the Post Office, or where no person has approached the Commission for their case to be reassessed.

Given that the UK Government has introduced legislation for England & Wales the Scottish Government plan to ensure, insofar as possible, equal treatment for Scottish sub-postmasters. Any Scottish solution will need to be compatible with both the proposed UK Government legislation and the UK compensation scheme in which the Scottish Government has no locus.

Question reference: S6W-25078

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Decision 004/2023 of the Scottish Information Commissioner, whether it will list the (a) name and (b) job title of each of its civil servants that were appointed to the secretariat that assisted James Hamilton in his investigation into whether the former First Minister had complied with the Scottish Ministerial Code, as described in the Commissioner's decision; whether any of the civil servants appointed to this secretariat were special advisers, and, if so, and in the event that any special advisers were involved in the process of deciding what parts of the Hamilton Report to redact, whether it will propose the scheduling of time for a ministerial statement on this matter.

The Scottish Government seconded one individual to provide a Secretariat function to the Independent Advisor on the Ministerial Code while he conducted his review. Ahead of publication, Mr Hamilton requested additional secretariat support. Four additional permanent civil servants below the grade of Senior Civil Service were seconded to support the Secretariat from the SG Organisational Continuity Team (OCT) for a limited period from 15 March 2021, primarily to support the redaction and publication process. None of those civil servants was a Special Adviser and Special Advisers were not involved in the process of deciding what parts of the Hamilton Report to redact.

Please note we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested relating to names. This information is personal data of a third party, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-25080

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government under whose ministerial direction the redactions to the Hamilton Report were made; whether it will provide the name of the lead official in charge of such redactions; how many civil servants were involved in the process of redaction; whether it will provide, where possible, the (a) names and (b) job titles of those civil servants; whether any special advisers were involved in the redaction process and, if so, whether it will provide their (i) names and (ii) job titles.

No ministerial direction was made in relation to the redactions to the Hamilton Report. The Ministerial Code sets out the appropriate process for any referrals by the First Minister to the independent advisors. In accordance with that process, the former Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, was the Minister with overall responsibility however he had no involvement in the redaction process.

The report was redacted for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the court orders, and to redact any personal data where processing of personal data would not be lawful under data protection law, by the Scottish Government’s Organisational Continuity Team. None of the civil servants from the Organisational Continuity Team was a special adviser and no Special Advisers were involved in the redaction process of the Hamilton Report.

Please note we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested relating to names. This information is personal data of a third party, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Question reference: S6W-25079

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide full details of the timetable leading up to the redacted version of the Hamilton Report being issued to the public on 22 March 2021, including (a) when the report was delivered to it by James Hamilton, (b) when information was redacted from the report and (c) whether there was more than one process of redaction.

In preparation for issuing Mr Hamilton’s report, civil servants seconded to the Secretariat applied draft redactions in the period 15 to 21 March 2021. The Scottish Government received Mr Hamilton’s final report on 22 March 2021 at 00:02. The report was then redacted by civil servants in the Organisational Continuity Team for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the court orders made by Lord Woolman and Lady Dorrian and to remove any personal data where processing of personal data would not be lawful under data protection law.

The report was published on the same day, 22 March 2021, in line with the commitment given to Parliament on 4 March 2021 by Nicola Sturgeon , at https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code

Question reference: S6W-25081

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 March 2024

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.

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.

Question reference: S6F-02848

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024

To ask the First Minister, regarding the delivery of the Scottish Government's recently published depopulation action plan, what will be different about this approach, which is described as "local by default, national by agreement", particularly towards the approval of new developments supported by local communities.

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