Seòmar agus comataidhean

To move back to interventions, the Scottish Government is currently at level 3, which means that it produces a plan, which you oversee. In May last year, you produced a report on Scottish Government intervention, and you are looking at doing another deep dive into the plan that it has proposed, after which there will be a report on that. Is it your hope that, at that stage, it can move from level 3 intervention or, given, to be fair, the size of the organisation and the complexity of data—in particular, the statistical data that you have talked about—are your concerns such that the critical friend exercise, in which you are there to help and assist, might be on-going?

I move the committee into private session.

It is right and proper to point out that one organisation is currently at level 4. Can you say anything about how long you anticipate that it will remain at that level for? That is the highest level of intervention that you undertake.

So, you remain a critical friend for all organisations.

There will be time for that in due course.

The final point that I want to make comes from your statement in the report. You said:

“it is clear that a strong and effective FOI regime and the openness and transparency it creates remains key in supporting accountability, strengthening participation and building trust in our public services.”

I echo that because of all that is needed. We have heard a lot of evidence today about the importance of FOI. We have had a hint of the challenges that Covid created when, for very obvious and understandable reasons, resources had to be moved within organisations to service other immediate needs. However, it is good to see things coming back, although it is probably sad to see that happening as slowly as it is.

You are in your final period of being our commissioner. The committee will have an opportunity before you depart to talk again, but I wish you all well until then. Thank you for attending today.

On the question of resource, I pass to Alexander Stewart.

Good morning, and welcome to the fifth meeting in 2023 of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. Our first agenda item is a decision on whether to take in private agenda items 3 and 4. Item 3 is consideration of the evidence that we will hear in this session from the Scottish Information Commissioner, and item 4 is consideration of an approach to delivering the evaluation of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

For our second item, I welcome Daren Fitzhenry, the current Scottish Information Commissioner. Daren is joined by Margaret Keyse, head of enforcement, and Claire Stephen, acting head of policy and information. Good morning to all of you. Daren, I will hand over to you to make a short introduction to your report.

Thank you. We will address many of those issues in our questions. Given that today is the three-year anniversary of the announcement of the first lockdown, I will open by asking you about the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. I thank you for the paragraphs in your report about that. Where are you in that regard, following the lockdowns and the remote working that you had to do during Covid? Has that affected your priorities as you move forward?

As you have said, you wait an eternity and then two buses come along at the same time. There is the proposed member’s bill and the consultation on which you have responded as one. Is there anything in the proposed member’s bill that you were glad to see being proposed or anything that was in it but was omitted from the other consultation’s proposals?