Record Keeping Requirements
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry · Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report · Issued 19 September 2023 · Addressed to: Scottish Government
Government responseScottish Government: Noted (Nov 2023)
DeliveryNo statement from Scottish Government found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, Chapter 25 Recommendation 12 (paragraph 25.224)
For reasons of transparency and accountability for public expenditure, the Scottish Ministers should keep minutes of:
• the nature and content of any discussions and the reasons for any decisions taken at all meetings, discussions or telephone conversations, and in email or other correspondence between a Minister and civil servants relating to the nature and extent of any involvement by civil servants in the procurement and delivery of a project funded or to be funded in whole or in part from public funds (including a grant from the Scottish Ministers);
• all discussions between a Minister and representatives of a local authority, the company responsible for the procurement and delivery of a publicly funded project or the company responsible for its construction to record what was discussed and what, if any, decisions were reached and the reasons for any such decision;
• all discussions between a Minister and civil servants including telephone discussions concerning any negotiations, including, but not restricted to, negotiations at mediation, for settling disputes involving contracts funded or to be funded in whole or in part from public funds (including a grant from the Scottish Ministers) to record what was discussed and what, if any, decisions were reached and the reasons for any such decision.
Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report · 19 Sep 2023 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
In November 2023, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition Màiri McAllan stated that robust procedures regarding minute-taking and documentation management had long been embedded across the civil service (Màiri McAllan response, Nov 2023). The Minister added that the Permanent Secretary had recently reiterated to a parliamentary committee the commitment to maintaining systems to record and manage this information (Màiri McAllan response, Nov 2023). The record holds no update since the Scottish Government's response of November 2023 (Màiri McAllan response, Nov 2023).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.
Government response
●Scottish Government · Noted · 2 Nov 2023
Robust and enhanced procedures regarding minute-taking and documentation management have also been embedded within the Government and the Civil Service for a long time. The Permanent Secretary recently appeared at the Finance and Public Administration Committee and reiterated this commitment to ensuring robust systems and processes are in place to record and manage this critical information.
Response document: Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report: Transport Secretary statement
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Scottish Government has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.