The Voice

Tom Brake’s bill to strengthen Freedom of Information

By | Tue 19th January 2016 - 2:42 pm

Today Tom Brake introduced a bill under the 10 minute rule to limit the powers of ministers to block freedom of information requests and extend the coverage of the Freedom of Information Act to contractors carrying out duties commissioned by the public sector.

Tom said

Strong FOI legislation is a good barometer for the health of any democracy, any attempt to dilute Freedom of Information legislation represents a threat to our democracy.

As we have seen with the activities of companies like G4S and Serco, and charities like Kids Company, a growing proportion of work, previously undertaken by the public sector and therefore subject to FOI, is now undertaken by other organisations not covered by FOI.

How many Medway Secure Training Centre scandals could be prevented if FOI had applied to private sector operators doing public sector work. We need to act on the recommendation by the Public Accounts Committee in 2014 and include these private contractors in scope.

Read more by .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Weird that this appears to be the first LDV article about this, and the first time anyone in the parliamentary party has spoken up about it (as far as I'm aware...
  • Jack
    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
  • Geoff Reid
    Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
  • Hywel
    Important point there Paul. For all the angst about 'lack of cut through' that has pretty much been the case for most of the time the LIb Dems existed except f...
  • Roland
    @Gwyn, I agree with David Raw about relative urgency. However, even in the list of political reforms, I would put changes to voting way below the changes that n...