People with a passion for scrutinising the behind-the-scenes working of the Scottish Government can now check official Holyrood records from 16 years ago.
National Records of Scotland has made cabinet papers and other Scottish Government records from 2004 available to the public.
That year, First Minister Jack McConnell’s Labour-Liberal Democrat cabinet considered a number of issues, including problems with privatised prisoner escort firm Reliance, legislation which led to the ban on smoking in public places and the appointment of the first Scots Makar, Edwin Morgan.
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This was also the year in which the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood opened and Lord Fraser published his report into the delays and cost over-runs which affected the troubled building project.
The papers are opened to the public as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to proactively release archived records after 15 years.
These newly opened files are available to view in the public search room of General Register House in Edinburgh. A current reader’s ticket is required to view files.
Details on how to obtain a reader’s ticket can be found at nrscotland.gov.uk.
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