17 April 2020 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP By email only firstminister@gov.scot Dear Ms Sturgeon Breach of the Ministerial Code I regret I must refer to you what appears to be a consistent breach of the Ministerial Code by Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing MSP. In the aIached response of 31st January 2020 to a request made for informaMon pursuant to the Environmental InformaMon (Scotland) RegulaMons 2004, Marine Scotland confirmed that Mr Ewing has, since his appointment as Cabinet Secretary, had a total of 36 meeMngs with fish farm companies, the Aquaculture Industry Liaison Group or the Farmed Finfish Summit. 25 of those meeMngs were meeMngs held either with the ScoWsh Salmon Producers OrganisaMons or directly with individual fish farm companies. By way of an email of Wednesday 8th April 2020, also aIached, Murdo MacLeod, Enforcement Manager with Marine Scotland Compliance, having consulted appropriate Marine Scotland business area and associated colleagues, confirmed that it is not normal pracMce to keep wriIen records of meeMngs between the Cabinet Secretary and the fish farm companies, because the parMes aIending these meeMngs “do not consider it necessary”. As you will appreciate, Mr Ewing, as Cabinet Secretary, is bound by the ScoWsh Ministerial Code. I refer to paragraph 4.22 of that Code, which states that “Ministers meet many people and organisaMons and consider a wide range of views as part of the formulaMon of Government policy. MeeMngs on official business should normally be arranged through Private Offices. A private secretary or official should be present for all discussions relaMng to Government business. Private Offices should arrange for the basic facts of formal mee:ngs between Ministers and outside interest groups to be recorded, se>ng out the reasons for the mee:ng, the names of those a?ending and the interests represented. A monthly list of engagements carried out by all Ministers is published three months in arrears.” It is clear from the response to the informaMon request that, deliberately, no such records have been made, puWng Mr Ewing is in breach of secMon 4.22. His private office has clearly failed to arrange for the basic facts of formal meeMngs between himself and individual fish farming companies and/or the SSPO to be recorded, seWng out the reasons for the meeMng, the names of those aIending and the interests represented. I would be grateful therefore if you could invesMgate this maIer further as against the ScoWsh Ministerial Code. Please could you keep me informed as to progress with any invesMgaMon you may pursue. Yours sincerely Lily ChrisMne Richards