About the Scottish Parliament

You can use FOI rights to ask for a wide range of information held by the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, including:

• policies and processes
• finance and expenses
• organisational information and staffing
• the work of parliamentary Committees
• engagement and events 

Complete an online request form

FOI(S)A does not apply to environmental information but the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2002 gives you very similar rights. 

You can use EIRs to ask for:

• environmental information and statistics
• environmental policies and best practice
• carbon footprint information
• information about our grounds and environment at Holyrood

When you send us an FOI or EIR request, you must include:

• a clear description of the information you need
• your name and contact details (we might need to contact you if we need more information and to reply, and we're unable to respond to anonymous requests)
• your preferred format of information (for example email, hard copy, a spreadsheet)
• the number of your requests, if there's more than one

You don’t need to mention FOI when making your request but it’s helpful if you do.

Complete an online request form

When you make an FOI request, or an EIR request, we will provide:

• an acknowledgement of your request
• guidance and assistance with making your request
• a request for clarification if what you’ve asked for is unclear
• an individual and understandable reply 
• a reply within the statutory deadline 
• the information you’ve requested
• a clear explanation of the reasons why some or all of the requested information has not been provided  
• information about your right to ask for an FOI review
• information about your right to ask for an FOI appeal

Timescales for our response

We must reply within 20 working days from the day after your request is made.

If we’re unsure what information you require, we’ll ask you to clarify your request. When this happens the time for replying to the request will begin once we receive your response.

For EIR requests additional time may be required for reply in certain circumstances.

Make an FOI request

To make your request, complete an online request form

Other ways to get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0131 348 5281

By post:
The Information Management and Governance Team
The Scottish Parliament
Holyrood
Edinburgh 
EH99 1SP

Additional support 

You can contact us using:

British Sign Language (BSL) through the BSL video relay service on the contactSCOTLAND-BSL website

Translation service

We’re happy to translate. Email us in any language: [email protected]

You can ask us to consider our reply again by asking for a review of your freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information request (EIR).  

You can do this by replying to our email or letter or by using the same contact details as when you made your request.

What to expect

We will:

• acknowledge your request for a review
• ask for more information if your request for a review is unclear
• provide guidance about making a request for review
• reply within the statutory deadline
• consider your request again and explain the outcome clearly
• explain the reasons why some or all of the information is being provided now
• explain the reasons why some or all of the information is not being provided

Making an FOI Appeal

You can make an appeal to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to ask them to decide if we handled your request correctly.

How did we do?

We welcome feedback on how we’ve handled your request. Contact us at [email protected] if you have comments or feedback on how we’ve handled your request.

The Disclosure Log and Publication Scheme provide quick and easy access to information already available for you to use.  Both give ways of finding information about the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB).

Publication Scheme

The Scottish Parliament and the SPCB have adopted the Model Publication Scheme developed and approved by the Scottish Information Commissioner to create a Guide to Information.

The current version of our Guide to Information was last updated in April 2021.  It includes information held by both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB).

View our Guide to information

Disclosure Log

Our FOI Disclosure Log shows replies to previous FOI and EIR requests. These are published in an anonymised way. 

We publish information about the number of FOI and EIR requests we receive.  

FOI requests per year (last updated 21 July 2023)

• 2023 (to 12 July) -  178 requests
• 2022 – 295 requests
• 2021 - 298 requests

Please contact [email protected] if you would like a breakdown of requests by month.