A Scottish Government inquiry into freedom of information (FOI) laws has found they have failed to keep pace with public services.
The Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee’s Report follows an investigation into the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).
In the Report, which was agreed before the length of time for information to be released was increased from 20 to 60 working days in the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act, members of the committee said the divide between the public and private sector had become blurred.
“As a result, private firms who are in receipt of public funds or providing public services are not covered by the Act which allows members of the public, journalists and politicians to apply for information,” the Report said.
The committee recommended the Government look at introducing a “gateway clause” to automatically include companies and groups receiving public money or providing a service within the remit of the Act, allowing information on the spending of the funds and the provision of services to be accessed by the public.
During an evidence session before the inquiry in December, Minister for Parliamentary Business, Graeme Dey (pictured) said the functions of private companies relating to public spending should be covered “in principle” but cautioned Members of the Scottish Parliament on expanding too far.
He told the committee: “Clearly, the activities that are publicly funded absolutely should, but we have to be careful to ensure that FOISA captures only the public service element of their work and not anything else that leads perhaps to their competitors gaining a commercial advantage in an area of non-public business.”
The Report also said the Act should be amended to ensure public bodies and private contractors were unable to rely on confidentiality agreements to keep information about spending or services out of the public domain.
The committee also pushed for the definition of information within the Act to be amended to include private WhatsApp conversations, email accounts and texts to ensure there was no way information could be withheld.
Edinburgh, 20 May 2020
