Forty journalists have warned that political advisers and press officers are interfering with Freedom of Information requests – claiming media enquiries under the legislation are treated differently from those sent in by the public.

An open letter has been submitted by journalists from across Scotland calling for action to be taken on the 2002 Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act due to recent “problems” they have had in using the law.

The letter has been signed by journalists from titles including the Daily Record, The Herald, The National and Scotland on Sunday, as well as those working for UK-wide publications.

The Scottish Parliament’s public audit and post legislative scrutiny committee is currently running call for evidence for its review into the Act.

Problems listed in the letter include:

Direct involvement of government special advisers and ministers in the sifting, clearing and blocking of information requests to the media

Frequent involvement of press officers across the public sector in the handling of information requests, and evidence media requests are still being treated differently to those from members of the public

Unexplained and significant delays across the public sector in the release of information in breach of statutory deadlines

Huge variations in the quality and pace of information request handling across the public sector, with some bodies routinely mishandling requests

Public bodies repeatedly failing to properly apply the section 30 public interest test, making narrow interpretations of the scope or requests, or failing to properly justify their decisions by referring to the act’s provisions.

Many of the signatories previously made similar warnings in 2017.

The latest letter, published on the Common Space website, states: “We still experience problems with the Scottish government and have had repeated difficulties accessing information from other public bodies, including the NHS, local authorities, Police Scotland and universities.

“These examples and the continuing problems we encounter with the application of this legislation, as well as the significant advantages for transparency offered by the digital information revolution, suggest to us a refresh of the legislation is needed.”