Exclusive:Watchdog condemns Scottish government's 'arrogant' handling of Salmond files

David Hamilton, the Scottish Information Commissioner, accused the government of being “disrespectful” towards his office.

It came as he highlighted the increasing pressure caused by AI-inspired freedom of information requests and appeals, in the wake of an “astonishing” rise in his caseload.

Mr Hamilton has been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with the Scottish government over information relating to the 2021 investigation into whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code.

Ms Sturgeon referred herself to independent adviser James Hamilton in 2019 following criticism over her handling of harassment allegations against her predecessor Alex Salmond.

Mr Hamilton investigated and issued a report in March 2021 in which he determined the former first minister did not breach the code.

Benjamin Harrop, a member of the public, later asked for communications and information relating to this, and last week the Scottish government was found to be in contempt over delays to the release of documents.

READ MORE: Scottish government found in contempt in 'bombshell' Salmond files ruling

The Scottish Information Commission said multiple appeals are still ongoing in relation to the issue.

"To be honest, it's really wearing,” he told The Steamie, The Scotsman’s politics podcast.

“I've got myself, my 11 investigators, I've got one lawyer in-house. The Scottish government has over 200, so we don't exactly have an equality of arms with this. It does absorb a lot of our time trying to do it."

He said the Court of Session ruling was "quite damning about the way that the Scottish government actually conducts itself in terms of freedom of information".

He added: "I think the wording that was used was quite punchy, in terms of it saying that there was almost disdain for the Commissioner.

"And that kind of arrogance is what typifies the approach to particularly these Hamilton inquiry cases, and I don't know where that comes from, because it sits so far out from where most of the other work that goes on is at."

Mr Hamilton continued: "All of the [Salmond files] appeals at the moment are very much attacking the office of the Commissioner. 'We know better, you should basically allow us to get on with it'.

"And that is an arrogant approach, there's no question. The point about the Scottish Information Commissioner's role is that it's not a government role.

"It's an independent role, parliamentary-official, and that kind of arrogance and 'we know better' and so on is really not helpful.

"It is disrespectful. I don't take that personally, but I do take it for the role which I'm the current postholder of. It's important that that office is respected, and I think they could maybe reflect a little bit better upon their approach in these cases."

He said the Scottish government generally has “a very good rate of putting information out”.

"The Scottish government has had its problems over many years with freedom of information, but in the last two or three it's really got its act together,” he said.

"I came in, thanks to the work of my predecessors, to a situation that was much improved in general for the Scottish government.

"They get about 7,000, 7,500 requests a year, and a lot of hard-working staff do a great job.

"However, when it comes to certain topics - the difficult ones, like the Hamilton inquiry - that's where it gets really challenging, shall we say.”

Mr Hamilton said people judge the government on the “high-profile stories”.

He said: "I think it was 2017 the first minister said that they wanted to make this one of the most transparent governments that ever has been.

"And actually, we're rapidly running into the territory of one of the least transparent governments there's ever been, and that's a tragedy."

Elsewhere, he said there had been an “astonishing” 83 per cent increase in his office caseload over the last year.

"There's a number of reasons for that - the higher profile of FOI is certainly driving it, people are beginning to see how they can use it, which is good,” he said. “But we're also seeing it getting used and perhaps abused by AI."

Mr Hamilton said FOI requests are being submitted following prompts by AI chatbots.

“The concern here is that there is no human input, there’s no cerebral thought into this, it’s just us talking to machines,” he said.

He said his office is going to conduct further research into the issue, after a 24-hour snapshot found six out of nine appeals involved the use of AI.

“Let’s be clear, AI has got a role to play in terms of an assistive technology for people who need it,” he added. “But a lot of people will use it and I think they think they are being very clever using it - actually, it’s not, because we can spot the pattern straight away.

“It’s got telltale formatting, telltale requests, total lack of humanity.”

Mr Hamilton continued: “There’s a broader conversation which I’m going to be speaking to government about and to other regulators about, to try and see - can we have almost an acceptable standard here as to how we interact with the public when we’re faced with this AI issue?”

Jamie Hepburn, the minister for parliamentary business, said: “I acknowledge and respect the role of the Scottish Information Commissioner and the important work he does to enforce and promote Scotland’s freedom of information laws which are the strongest in the UK.

“The Scottish government has answered more than 13,000 FOI requests since the start of 2024. This is a growing number and takes up public resources. I am pleased we respond to more than 95 per cent on time.”