from Sunday Herald, 09 April 2006
PLANS by ministers to claw back Scotland’s far-reaching freedom of information reforms have been rejected by the nation’s information tsar, Kevin Dunion.
In a stinging response to the Scottish Executive’s review of freedom of information legislation, the Scottish information commissioner has attacked plans to introduce upfront fees. They could end up with people being charged for wanting to know the opening times of libraries, he warned.
Dunion was also critical of the idea of lumping together requests from MSPs, journalists and others in order to increase charges. Relaxing the deadlines by which public authorities have to respond to requests for information would be premature, he suggested.
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which came into force in January 2005, gives anyone the right to request information from public authorities. It has resulted in a vast amount of previously secret information become public – including, most famously, the taxi expenses of the former Scottish Tory leader, David McLetchie.
Last December, after less than a year of the act in operation, minister for parliamentary business Margaret Curran launched a review. She warned of “misuse” by some businesses and journalists promoting self-interest and gossip.
She suggested that the charging regime needed to be looked at, including the possibility of upfront fees for requests under the act. She also talked about aggregating different requests from individuals, which could have the effect of pushing the costs of replying over £600, thereby enabling authorities to charge.
But Dunion has strongly defended the existing regulations on charging, which mean that in most cases information is provided free. The introduction of new fees would undermine the real advances made towards open government, he argued.
“The implementation of an upfront fee in Scotland would radically transform the nature of the freedom of information regime in this country and would be incompatible with the primary legislation,” he stated.
Such a fee would deter members of the public from exercising their right to ask questions, Dunion maintained. And because every request for information from public authorities is technically a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, some of the consequences could be bizarre.
“An upfront fee in such circumstances would mean that any request for information, however commonplace or uncontroversial – for example, library opening hours – would have to be accompanied by a fee,” Dunion said.
He warned that aggregating requests from individuals could have “significant disadvantages” and “unintended consequences”. MSPs, charities and journalists could face large fees if different requests to large organisations like the Executive were lumped together.
The Executive’s review also asked whether the deadline of 20 working days by which public authorities have to respond to information requests should be relaxed. But according to Dunion, it was “too early to draw conclusions” on the matter.
“I anticipate that any adjustments to current law and regulations would be limited as we are barely one year into establishing the new culture of openness,” he told the Sunday Herald.
The Executive said it had received more than 100 responses to its consultation on the Freedom of Information legislation. Although the consultation period ended on March 31, ministers were still happy to accept responses.
“We will be considering all responses carefully to share and discuss at the next meeting of the Scottish Freedom of Information Implementation Group in May,” said an Executive spokeswoman.
“Decisions on the way forward on the various issues will be taken after that.”
The Executive is expected to publish a report on the consultation in June.
NEED TO KNOW MORE?The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
The Scottish Executive's review of the Freedom of Information Act
The Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland
