Scottish Ministers ordered to publish wrongly withheld Sturgeon inquiry evidence

Scottish Ministers have been ordered to publish “wrongly withheld” information that was part of an investigation into whether former first minister Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code.

Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton ruled on Friday that ministers previously failed to disclose some information requested under Freedom of Information (FOI) rules.

The decision requires the Scottish Government to disclose some information which had been wrongly withheld and issue a revised response in relation to a small amount of other information by January 12, 2026.

The new ruling was published in a long-running request for information from the investigation into whether Sturgeon breached the ministerial code in dealings with her late predecessor, Alex Salmond, over harassment allegations.

Sturgeon was cleared of breaching the ethics code by independent adviser James Hamilton KC in 2021.

A freedom of information (FOI) request was then made to the Scottish Government for all written evidence used in the investigation.

The request has since been subject to appeals and court hearings, but the new ruling on Friday found that the Scottish Government had failed to accurately interpret the scope of the request for information.

Mr Hamilton determined that the Government had been “wrongly withholding some information under the [FOI] exemptions”.

The information commissioner criticised Scottish Ministers over their handling of the case, saying it was only through the “diligence” of his staff that “failures” were uncovered.

“While there is no evidence of impropriety, this nevertheless reflects poorly on the Scottish Government’s handling of this case, and I trust it will take urgent action to prevent such occurrences happening again,” Mr Hamilton said.

In his ruling, he also stressed he was “acutely aware of the sensitivity of the subject matter of the request and, consequently, some of the withheld information”.

For example, court orders still prevent the publication of anything that might identify the women who complained about Salmond.

In the wake of the ruling, independent MSP Fergus Ewing called on First Minister John Swinney to “publish all the documents that show the truth about the Sturgeon inquiry and the Salmond hounding by senior civil servants and others”.

The former SNP MSP added that the Government has “spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to prevent publication of documents relating to both the Sturgeon investigation and Salmond inquiry”.

“This is an utterly devastating finding which destroys any shred of credibility that the First Minister has when he says he is committed to transparency and openness in Government,” he said.

Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This whole saga is sadly typical of the SNP’s approach to government and their resistance to any form of scrutiny.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have received the decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner and are considering its terms.”