Guest post from Tory Outcast:
Yesterday the Government fundamentally failed in its responsibilities to extend the scope of the Freedom of Information act. Many had hoped it would use the last announcements before the Summer recess to include nationalised banks, private prisons, regional assemblies, privatised utilities and companies who are contracted by the public sector in the remit of the act.
However it ignored these institutions and only went as far as to extend it to include city academies, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). While these are important steps forward it is difficult to see any reason other than cowardice why the Government did not go further. After all "the Act allows contractors providing services on behalf of a public authority to be brought under its scope, if the provision of the service is a function of the authority". There is clearly no reason why such institutions as the ones listed above could not be included.
The Government has fallen short here and offered no justification other than cost factors. Certainly this is an issue to be taken into consideration now more than ever but it should not stand in the way of allowing transparency in all levels of Government and the public sector. This level of transparency is also more important at this time than any other, particularly in light of recent events and other than processing a FoI request it is difficult to see why costs should be excessive to the extent that it is impractical to demand.
Hopefully when Parliament returns in October it will further extend the remit of the act. If I may borrow a phrase from the Campaign for Freedom of Information: "People’s rights to know about the quality of a public service they receive should be the same, whether the service is provided by a public authority itself or by a private body under contract to the authority". The people must be able to hold the Government to account and only through transparency on where our money is being spent can this be truly achievable.
Privatised services should obviously be encouraged across the board for the sake of efficiency and competency but it is public money that is risked in the investment and we should be able to study this investment fully whether it is MPs expenses or where our money is going in the building of the new Olympic Stadium.
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