{"id":1463,"date":"2016-09-01T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmediauk.org\/information-commissioner-supports-extension-of-foi-act\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T10:11:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T09:11:50","slug":"information-commissioner-supports-extension-of-foi-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmediauk.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/01\/information-commissioner-supports-extension-of-foi-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Information Commissioner Supports Extension of FOI Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Companies which take public money to provide government services should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the new Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has said.<\/p>\n

Ms Denham said she backed expanding the Freedom of Information Act to private businesses which are paid to deliver public services – a change which the News Media Association has argued for in its campaign to strengthen the FOI Act.<\/p>\n

The NMA will be hosting a lunch for the Information Commissioner in November. <\/p>\n

This could see contractors being forced to disclose information such as pay scales below board level, and more data about how services are delivered, The Daily Telegraph reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ms Denham said: “Private contractors above a certain threshold for a contract or doing some specific types of work could be included under the FOI Act.<\/p>\n

“The government could do more to include private bodies that are basically doing work on behalf of the public.”<\/p>\n

Ms Denham also said that there should be a new legal duty on public authorities to record all significant decisions, which would then allow the negotiations to be subject to FOI.<\/p>\n

Ms Denham said: “If you’ve got FOI and you want it to work, the right records have to be created in the first place.”<\/p>\n

Ms Denham said she supported the introduction of a “duty to document” law in the UK which would help prevent authorities evading FOI requests by trying to ensure that nothing sensitive is recorded in the first place.<\/p>\n

She said:  “I think the principle is right. I need to understand more about the legal context in the UK to see where such a duty should rest.”<\/p>\n

Ms Denham also told the BBC she was unhappy about potential evasion of FOI by officials by sending messages using private email.<\/p>\n

She said: “People shouldn’t be using private email accounts to conduct government business.<\/p>\n

“If they do, legally it’s subject to FOI – however, it frustrates the purposes of FOI from a search perspective.”<\/p>\n

Maurice Frankel, founder of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: “The government is encouraging the contracting out of public services but each new contract weakens the public’s right to know because contractors are not subject to FOI.<\/p>\n

“It makes no sense for the public’s right to know whether a service is up to scratch to depend on who pays the relevant staff – the public authority or a contractor paid by the authority.<\/p>\n

“Either way the public is funding the service and the FOI Act should apply. A ‘duty to document’ would help prevent authorities evading FOI requests by trying to ensure that nothing sensitive is recorded in the first place.<\/p>\n

“It would also make it harder to argue that FOI discourages authorities from keeping proper records.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies which take public money to provide government services should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the new Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has said.
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