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.