Commissioner fears as ministers' FoI extension powers "woefully underused"
Immediate steps must be taken to protect freedom of information (FoI) rights from the damage caused by the outsourcing of important public services, the Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, claimed today.
In a special report to the Scottish Parliament, Ms Agnew claims there is growing concern about the impact of changes in public sector delivery on information rights, and that ministers' powers to extend FoI to non-public sector organisations delivering public functions have been “woefully underused” in the 10 years since FoI law came into effect.
The Commissioner highlights in particular the fact that over 15,000 Scottish households have lost FoI rights since 2005, following the transfer of local authority housing stock to housing associations, but states that focusing on named organisations "can deflect us from the real questions that we should be asking", about whether there is a public interest in access to the information they hold and to what extent ministers
consider the service they provide to be a public function.
Ms Agnew recognises that concerns are expressed about the number and cost of FoI requests that may follow if a body is designated, but quotes remarks by the then Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the 2013 annual FoI conference, that her clear position was that "the costs that arise from FoI are outweighed by the increase in transparency and accountability to the citizen that result". She also reports that a survey of local authority culture and leisure trusts, which became subject to FoI last year, found that they experienced no significant increase in the number of requests, or change in the type of information requested, after coming under the law.
Entitled FOI 10 Years On: are the right organisations covered?, the report contains a number of recommendations for action by ministers. These include:
- adopting a policy to ensure FoI rights are migrated whenever a body delivering public functions or services changes;
- carrying out a review to identify where FoI rights have been lost over the past decade, and reinstate them;
- taking steps to ensure that FoI rights apply to those bodies responsible for social housing and private prisons; and
- adopting a factor based approach to wider FoI designation, to ensure that FoI rights apply to bodies which are considered to be delivering functions of a public nature.
Ms Agnew commented: “The first decade of FoI in Scotland is a real success story. Over 60,000 requests were made last year alone, and recent research revealed that 95% of the public believe that the right of access to the information held by public bodies is important.
“Worryingly though, our right to information is being slowly eroded. Rights have been gradually lost over the last 10 years as the responsibility for public service delivery is passed to third parties. These rights are fundamental to ensuring public services are open, cost-effective and accountable to the public.
“As the models for the delivery of public functions evolve and change, it is vitally important that the public’s right to the information held about the services that deliver them are protected and strengthened.”