The Herald
Here's an article which appeared in the Herald newspaper on Monday - which I missed as I was down in London for the hearing at the UK Supreme Court.
Council appeals ruling over pay
The Labour council is the first public body in Scotland to contest a Freedom of Information (FoI) ruling against it at the Supreme Court.
Scotland's highest court, the Court of Session, has already thrown out the council's case.
If it loses in London, the local authority is likely to face a legal bill of around £200,000.
The case centres on equal pay campaigner Mark Irvine, who asked South Lanarkshire for details of its pay scales under FoI law in 2010.
Mr Irvine was trying to discover if, like many other councils, South Lanarkshire had been paying men in manual jobs such as gravedigging and gardening more than female staff in jobs requiring the same or greater skill levels.
Councils have had to pay out millions in compensation in recent years after it emerged they had paid male staff special bonuses denied to their female counterparts.
South Lanarkshire, which is currently being taken to a tribunal by 1500 female workers who say they are owed £10m, claimed Mr Irvine had no legitimate interest in the data and that revealing the number of staff on various pay grades would breach data protection law.
When the Scottish Information Commissioner rejected these arguments and ordered the council to release the information, it then appealed to the Court of Session, where three judges also ruled in Mr Irvine's favour.
The council then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Information Commissioner has engaged one of Scotland's most feared lawyers, Richard Keen, to argue its case.
Mr Irvine said: "Three years ago South Lanarkshire argued that my original FoI request was 'vexatious', yet this case has gone all the way to the UK Supreme Court, which makes the council look completely ridiculous.
"The question on everyone's lips is, 'If South Lanarkshire has nothing to hide, why doesn't it just publish the pay information requested?'
"Even at this stage it's not too late for the council to pull back and do the right thing."
A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire Council said: "Our decision to refuse the Freedom of Information request was to protect the sensitive personal data of employees.
"We believe this is an important issue that's worth defending.
"If we released the information that was requested, we believe we would be in clear breach of the Data Protection Act."
A spokesman for the Scottish Information Commissioner said: "I can confirm that the case is going ahead on Monday."
Scotland's highest court, the Court of Session, has already thrown out the council's case.
If it loses in London, the local authority is likely to face a legal bill of around £200,000.
The case centres on equal pay campaigner Mark Irvine, who asked South Lanarkshire for details of its pay scales under FoI law in 2010.
Mr Irvine was trying to discover if, like many other councils, South Lanarkshire had been paying men in manual jobs such as gravedigging and gardening more than female staff in jobs requiring the same or greater skill levels.
Councils have had to pay out millions in compensation in recent years after it emerged they had paid male staff special bonuses denied to their female counterparts.
South Lanarkshire, which is currently being taken to a tribunal by 1500 female workers who say they are owed £10m, claimed Mr Irvine had no legitimate interest in the data and that revealing the number of staff on various pay grades would breach data protection law.
When the Scottish Information Commissioner rejected these arguments and ordered the council to release the information, it then appealed to the Court of Session, where three judges also ruled in Mr Irvine's favour.
The council then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Information Commissioner has engaged one of Scotland's most feared lawyers, Richard Keen, to argue its case.
Mr Irvine said: "Three years ago South Lanarkshire argued that my original FoI request was 'vexatious', yet this case has gone all the way to the UK Supreme Court, which makes the council look completely ridiculous.
"The question on everyone's lips is, 'If South Lanarkshire has nothing to hide, why doesn't it just publish the pay information requested?'
"Even at this stage it's not too late for the council to pull back and do the right thing."
A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire Council said: "Our decision to refuse the Freedom of Information request was to protect the sensitive personal data of employees.
"We believe this is an important issue that's worth defending.
"If we released the information that was requested, we believe we would be in clear breach of the Data Protection Act."
A spokesman for the Scottish Information Commissioner said: "I can confirm that the case is going ahead on Monday."
