Following a long campaign calling for far-reaching changes to Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, Scottish Labour MSP Katy Clark is set to lodge her members’ bill which has been described as the most significant reform of FOI legislation in the history of devolution.
The Scottish Government launched its own consultation on FOI reforms earlier this year, however, it made no commitment to extend FOI coverage to all providers of public services and a pledge to reform FOI was absent from the Programme for Government.
Ms Clark is calling on the Scottish Government to “finally engage” and back her bill to reform Freedom of Information (FOI) laws which could see more publicly funded services falling under FOI laws.
In a letter to George Adam, minister for cabinet and parliamentary business, she slammed his government for continuing to “resist substantial legal reform”, citing loopholes which allow hundreds of bodies running public services to evade scrutiny. She also pointed to the example of families of Covid victims being unable to access key information about loved ones from private care homes.
The call comes after a number of controversies surrounding the approach to FOI adopted by the Scottish Government, which has been under “intervention” by the Scottish Information Commissioner for five years.
Ms Clark’s bill, which is backed by the Scottish Trades Union Congress and a raft of campaigners, would extend coverage to all organisations delivering public services, introduce a new statutory role of FOI officer in public bodies, address concerns around enforcement and require proactive publication of information.
She said: “I look forward to imminently lodging my final proposal for an FOI reform bill.
“We have a raft of public services delivered by providers not covered by FOI. We have woefully outdated legislation. We have a culture of secrecy, where responses by some public organisations are frequently late or evasive. And we have a Scottish Government which has essentially been under special measures over its atrocious FOI performance for the past five years.
“In a democratic country, this isn’t good enough. Despite parliamentary committees and former information commissioners demanding root and branch reform, the Scottish Government has failed to step up.
“It’s time for them to finally engage with the issue with meaningful reforms. I’m calling on the Scottish Government to back my bill to improve the right to know so we can ensure that public information follows the public pound.”
The Proposed Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill, the proposal for a members’ bill, was lodged in November last year with a consultation which ran until March this year.
Earlier this week the Scottish Government published its response to last year’s consultation and ruled out the immediate introduction of an FOI bill, instead committing to secondary reforms and further consultations. These include consulting on extending FOI designation to private and third sector run care homes but only after the passage of the delayed National Care Service bill.
Ms Clark’s proposal will include a number of reforms explicitly ruled out by the Scottish Government in the publication – including a restriction on use of confidentiality clauses, the introduction of a statutory duty to proactively publish information and the removal of the First Minister’s veto power to comply with certain notices.
Ms Clark responded to the publication: “The Scottish Government has finally made clear its intentions: kick the can down the road yet again.
“There’s no commitment to private or third sector designation, just a vague commitment to a consultation on the care sector and only after the passage of a National Care Service that has itself been delayed. This is weak, timid and far from what the public are calling for. It’s utterly undemocratic that so many publicly-funded organisations evade scrutiny because of their ownership.
“My bill will finally close these loopholes, introduce a statutory duty for bodies to proactively publish information and make FOI fit for the modern day.”
West Scotland MSP Katy Clark is lodging a members’ bill calling for wide-ranging reforms to FOI laws. No_B48FOI_23_Katy_Clark