(Lothian)
(Lab):...Here are more examples from between
September and October 2016. met
Ineos at Grangemouth, and I asked for a copy of the ministerial
briefing it was returned heavily redacted.
attended a Business for Scotland dinner, and I requested notes, the
guest list and any speech delivered by the First Minister the
Scottish Government said that it had no information. met Paul Little of the City of Glasgow College there
were no minutes. met
the SME China forum there were no minutes.
met
to discuss Prestwick
airport the minutes were heavily redacted. met
Sir Hugh Aitken of the Confederation of British Industry there were
no minutes. met
the Global Scots and I asked for a copy of any minute or note no
information was available.
met PetroChina to discuss Grangemouth
there were no minutes and the briefing was redacted to the point of
meaninglessness. met Sir , head of the Educational
Endowment Foundation exemptions were applied to the pre-meeting
briefing to prevent its disclosure, and then it was claimed that it
was an informal meeting and that no minutes or notes were held.
What a farce! Those events involve just a few ministers over a very
short period. If we scaled that up over several months or a year,
it would show that such practices have been deployed on an
industrial scale...
(Lothian)
(Green):...It is fair to say that the debate last week
confirmed that the issues that were raised by the journalists are
valid and urgent. As I am sure all members agree, journalists and
citizens need a robust FOI regime in order to hold power to
account, whether it be in relation to matters such as recruitment
in the national health service, conversations between Government
ministers and representatives of authoritarian regimes such as
China, or Donald Trump's status as a global Scot...
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