FOI/202500461414 · FOI · not held
Ministerial code investigation into former First Minister: FOI release
Information requested
All 14 pieces of correspondence" involved in the "ministerial code investigation into former FM Salmond that was conducted by Sir David Bell and published in 2013". You requested this correspondence because the links to the documents on the Scottish Government/NRS website archive are not working.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested. While it is not possible to restore the broken links in the website archive, I have managed to locate the 14 pieces of correspondence in Scottish Government files and these are attached with this response. As you may have already seen, Sir David Bell's final report on his investigation is still available through the archived website.
I should point out that despite extensive searching of the Scottish Government's files, I was not able to locate a copy of the final letter from the Deputy First Minister to the Lord Advocate of 23 October 2012. I have, however, managed to locate a final draft of this letter which I believe to be either identical or very similar to the text of the final letter. I apologise that that it has not been possible to locate the final version of this document and hope that the provision of the draft letter gives you all the information you require. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) that the Scottish Government does not hold this part of the information you have requested.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) that the Scottish Government does not hold this part of the information you have requested.