Scottish Government found in contempt of court for not releasing Salmond files on time

The Scottish Government has been found in contempt of court for failing to publish information it was ordered to disclose.

The Scottish Information Commissioner had told ministers to release communications relating to the Hamilton inquiry into whether Nicola Sturgeon had breached the ministerial code in her handling of a complaint by her predecessor Alex Salmond by mid-January.

When that deadline was not met, the information commissioner David Hamilton set another deadline – which was also missed. Hamilton then referred the matter to the Court of Session.

The court has now ruled that this failure to comply with the timescales set out by Hamilton amount to contempt of court. It has admonished the government and instructed it to pay legal expenses to the commissioner’s office.

Hamilton said: “Failing to comply with my decisions undermines the fundamental principles of FOI [freedom of information] and damages the information rights of individuals. I trust that the Scottish ministers will now reflect carefully on this ruling and review their broader legal approach to certain aspects of FOI compliance – and particularly those relating to the Hamilton inquiry.

“If Scotland’s FOI rights are to remain robust, effective and valued, the timescales for both the provision of information and compliance with my rulings must be respected by every public authority.”

The Hamilton inquiry cleared Sturgeon of breaching standards rules over meetings and calls she had with Salmond after harassment accusations against him emerged.

A member of the public used freedom of information laws to request internal communications and legal advice relating to the inquiry, a request which was initially refused.

Upon appeal, Hamilton instructed ministers to release the documents in November and criticised them for “wrongly withholding” the information.

The Scottish Government did ultimately release the documents towards the end of February.

This was the first time since freedom of information laws came into force more than two decades ago that the commissioner had referred non-compliance to the court.

First Minister John Swinney previously said the delay in publication was because ministers did not want to risk revealing the identities of the complainers in the sexual assault case against Salmond.

The former first minister was cleared of all charges, but a court order remains in place to protect the anonymity of the women involved.

But in the written judgment, Lady Poole found the government “deliberately failured to comply” with the information commissioner, as it did not start the work of redacting documents until the start of this year.

Lady Poole also said ministers had failed to contact the commissioner ahead of the deadline to request an extension, which “showed a lack of respect for the commissioner's role”.

Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie described the ruling an “another shameful episode” for the SNP. She added: “Time and time again we see the same culture of secrecy and cover-up from John Swinney and the SNP – from illegally ignoring the FOI commissioner to dodging a parliamentary inquiry into the embezzlement scandal.

“John Swinney and the SNP are mired in sleaze and convinced the rules don’t apply to them.”

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said: “John Swinney, who has been a central figure in the SNP for 20 years, should be ashamed that he leads a party that evades scrutiny and accountability at every turn.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.