Dear All
The Freedom of Information Act is a device that is supposed to allow private citizens to have more transparency in how the government and NGO’s operate.
The phrase used is;
“It’s public knowledge”!
But it is only public knowledge if they will give it to you and that is the problem.
The Scottish Government has been accused of routinely rejecting valid Freedom of Information requests.
This is a serious mistake.
Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion is unhappy in the way that civil servants are taking a "restrictive view" of applications as a matter of routine.
If such a policy continues then trust will erode in the Scottish Government and irreversible damage will be done.
Opposition parties will be able to level charges using emotive buzzwords like ‘untrustworthy’ and ‘cover up’.
If you are an SNP Activist try justifying that on a doorstep.
Kevin Dunion said;
"The Scottish government has taken a rather restrictive view of it and is now issuing, almost as a matter of course, refusal notices saying requests are invalid if they make reference to documents. I'm very surprised and disappointed by the line that they have taken, because up until now they have had an excellent record of supporting FoI”.
In May 2007, the people of Scotland gave the SNP the chance to prove themselves in government, by enlarge that government has been successful.
But the SNP should be aware that popularity doesn’t last, what does last is trust and transparency.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said of the recent Court of Session ruling on FOI;
“The court ruling says, for example, that the FoI Act provides a right to obtain information, rather than a right to obtain copies of specific documents, and of course we are now considering the implications of the court ruling in the context of the advice from the commissioner."
The smart thing for the SNP Ministers is to go beyond the ruling and hand over copies of documents, above and beyond.
Or they could take the Labour Party approach with regard to transparency and keep denying information.
If we think back to the Shirley McKie case the Labour Executive did everything possible to deny this woman access to information.
Where is the Labour Party in Holyrood now?
They are no longer the party of Government.
Stupidity proved to be the poor substitute for intelligence!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
The Freedom of Information Act is a device that is supposed to allow private citizens to have more transparency in how the government and NGO’s operate.
The phrase used is;
“It’s public knowledge”!
But it is only public knowledge if they will give it to you and that is the problem.
The Scottish Government has been accused of routinely rejecting valid Freedom of Information requests.
This is a serious mistake.
Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion is unhappy in the way that civil servants are taking a "restrictive view" of applications as a matter of routine.
If such a policy continues then trust will erode in the Scottish Government and irreversible damage will be done.
Opposition parties will be able to level charges using emotive buzzwords like ‘untrustworthy’ and ‘cover up’.
If you are an SNP Activist try justifying that on a doorstep.
Kevin Dunion said;
"The Scottish government has taken a rather restrictive view of it and is now issuing, almost as a matter of course, refusal notices saying requests are invalid if they make reference to documents. I'm very surprised and disappointed by the line that they have taken, because up until now they have had an excellent record of supporting FoI”.
In May 2007, the people of Scotland gave the SNP the chance to prove themselves in government, by enlarge that government has been successful.
But the SNP should be aware that popularity doesn’t last, what does last is trust and transparency.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said of the recent Court of Session ruling on FOI;
“The court ruling says, for example, that the FoI Act provides a right to obtain information, rather than a right to obtain copies of specific documents, and of course we are now considering the implications of the court ruling in the context of the advice from the commissioner."
The smart thing for the SNP Ministers is to go beyond the ruling and hand over copies of documents, above and beyond.
Or they could take the Labour Party approach with regard to transparency and keep denying information.
If we think back to the Shirley McKie case the Labour Executive did everything possible to deny this woman access to information.
Where is the Labour Party in Holyrood now?
They are no longer the party of Government.
Stupidity proved to be the poor substitute for intelligence!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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