Scottish authorities have spent more than £400,000 on legal advice for FOI requests, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

Deadline News report: 

PUBLIC authorities in Scotland have paid lawyers more than £400,000 to help dodge freedom of information requests.

More than 60 Scottish authorities have paid legal firms thousands of pounds for advice on how to apply exemptions within the FoI Act and on reviews and appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC).

Private advice was also taken despite officials having access to free information from the SIC.

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.