Judges find in favour of Councils in Freedom of Information ruling

December 10, 2009 | No Comments

The Inner House of the Court of Session has ruled that the Scottish Information Commissioner did not treat Glasgow and Dundee City Councils fairly, when deciding Freedom of Information cases involving land sales records.  The Councils were instructed to release this information but successfully appealed the decision of the Commissioner.

It was held that “The requests were invalid in that they were not requests for ‘information’ within the meaning of the act” and that “The right is to be given the information, rather than a particular record (or copy of the record) that contains it.”

Until the Inner House Decision, the majority of public bodies have taken a generous approach to Freedom of Information requests, regularly releasing copies of their records.  This decision could allow a Council to interpret the law more narrowly, effectively requiring the Council to produce only the information contained in the documents rather than copies of them.

Read the opinion Here

Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Misc.

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Formed in May 2009, the Scottish Human Rights Law Group is a non-affiliated, independent, professional network for those engaged in legal practice and study, in academia and politics, in campaigning and in the provision of advice. It exists to raise awareness and knowledge of human rights law in Scotland, and to provide a forum for discussion of matters of interest across the field. The group organises seminars and roundtable discussions on human rights and is accredited for the purposes of CPD.