There are to be no changes to the fees regulations under the Freedom of Information Act in Scotland, following a review by the Scottish Executive.

The announcement was made by Margaret Curran, minister for parliamentary business, who initiated the review of the operation of Freedom of Information in Scotland to assess whether any “fine-tuning” was needed.

Reporting her findings, she said: “The review did not provide conclusive evidence to underpin any decisions on changes to the fee regulations at this point.

“However, I want to ensure that Freedom of Information is properly striking a balance between encouraging use of the Act by the public in making requests for information, but not imposing an unreasonable burden on authorities in their compliance with FOI.”

She said she planned to start looking at how fee regulations were working in practice across Scotland – and if they are striking the right balance for public authorities and the people making requests.

She also announced that work would begin to examine how coverage of Freedom of Information could be extended to organisations which are not Scottish public authorities.

The news has been welcomed by the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland.