'Are yous ever gonna tell us the truth?' - Scottish Government issue seven page reply to hilarious request

The Scottish Government issued a seven page response to a member of the public asking them whether they were ever going to tell him the truth.

The Scottish Government was forced to respond to a FOI asking them whether they will tell the truth.

The response, to a freedom of information request from a member of the public, covered in detail how Covid-19 tests are conducted, how the Scottish Government collate case numbers, and a dedicated two and a half page response to the question “are yous ever gonna tell us the truth”.

The request, from an unknown member of the public, includes references to several Covid-19 conspiracy theories including the baseless suggestion Covid-19 case numbers are exaggerated by counting other coronaviruses such as the common cold.

It also covers other conspiracy theories including the false allegation that Covid-19 “related” deaths are used to inflate the number of deaths and are not statistically accurate.

The member of the public also asks: “why is it one law for one and not for another” in his request.

In response, the Scottish Government state: “The figures provided are compiled by professional ScottishGovernment analysts across the statistics, economist and research professions. ScottishGovernment works closely with partners in compiling these figures, including with Public Health Scotland on daily cases, testing and deaths data; National Records of Scotland on weekly deaths data; Health Boards on hospital and other NHS data, along with the Care Inspectorate for care homes data.

"Making this information available supports public scrutiny and transparency, providing timely and equal access to data for the public, media and other commentators and reducing the requirement for people to make specific information requests to Government and NHS.

“The figures and analysis presented continue to evolve over time to ensure the most relevant information is included and the needs of stakeholders are met. We have responded to feedback on the clarity and usefulness of the data presented where possible."

The Scottish Government is required by law to respond to all Freedom of Information requests the same way unless they are viewed as being “vexatious” which tends to be applied only for repeat or deliberately annoying requests rather than genuine requests for information.

The full freedom of information request and response can be viewed on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000111728/

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