Access to information
Why access to information is important
It is essential to a healthy democracy that the voting public should know what is being decided on their behalf. This is recognised in the inclusion of ‘Openness’ and ‘Accountability’ as two of the Ten Principles of Public Life*. See web site section on Local Democracy for more on this.
Unfortunately, despite the Ten Principles, it can be difficult for an ordinary member of the public to find facts and figures relevant to National or Local Government or other public body.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 was brought in to give legal force to the public’s right of access to information held by what the Act describes as ‘public authorities’. The definition of public authorities is quite long but includes, for instance, National and Local Government, National Park Authorities, Police Authorities and Health Authorities. There was a five year period before full commencement so there is little excuse now for any public authority not to first of all be properly set up to make available relevant information and secondly to handle requests for information where it is not already publically available.
Put simply any member of the public may request information from a public authority. If that authority holds the information, and if it is not already publically available, then with certain exceptions it must be provided. The list of exceptions seems long but in practice would not provide much comfort to a body reluctant to accept the principles of ‘Openness’ or ‘Accountability’. Information must be provided within 20 working days.
The Freedom of Information Act itself is quite long and for anyone wishing to know more there is plenty about it on the Internet. The text of the Act is available on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website.
* The Relevant Authorities (General Principles) Order 2001
Freedom of information and LPC
In terms of Freedom of Information and local issues, Lydford Parish Council (LPC) had an interesting comment to make in their January 2008 minutes. They noted receipt of a request made under the Freedom of Information Act and had the following to say about how such requests should be processed in the future:-
"The Chairman requested members, should they receive this kind of official request, to bring it to the Council Meeting and not to deal with it as individuals. The Clerk reminded the meeting that no individual member (including the Chairman), nor the Clerk, has the power to speak on behalf of the Council: this can only be done when an item has been through the Parish Council meeting. Members may, of course, speak as individuals and express their own opinions, but should make the difference clear."
I find this statement extraordinary. Every day up and down the country individuals (both members and employees) speak on behalf of their council. It may be that LPC wish all matters of policy to be decided at Council and for a small parish council this is probably fair enough. However, a Freedom of Information request is not a request for a decision on policy but for facts held on record by the body concerned. It is an administrative issue rather than a policy issue. The only question of policy would seem to be whether LPC wish to comply with the law or not.
Return to top of pageThe Publication Scheme
Another aspect of the Act is that public authorities are supposed to prepare a 'Publication Scheme'. Put simply the requirement for a Publication Scheme, as applied to LPC, is to enable members of the public to know just what information is routinely available from the parish council and how that information may be obtained. The emphasis is on public authorities to be proactive in making information available. This ties in with the Ten Principles of Public life and the need for openess and public accountability
The Information Commisioner's Office (ICO) make available a simple model publication scheme suitable for parish councils and there is more detailed information available so meeting the requirement should be really straightforward
The core classes of information i.e. those that must be included in the scheme are :-
- Who we are and what we do
- What we spend and how we spend it
- What our priorities are and how we are doing
- How we make decisions
- Our policies and procedures
- Lists and Registers
- The services we offer
There is, of course, nothing to prevent councils making other information available and members of the public may request any information that is not already published.
At the council meeting on 16th December 2008 a resolution was agreed that the council adopt a scheme based on just the ‘core classes’ of information as given in the ICO’s model scheme for parishes. There was no discussion on the details of what information should be included, how it should be published or indeed on how the Publication Scheme should be made available to parishioners.
In January 2009 an individual request for precept budget information was made. This budget information had been discussed at the December parish council meeting but not appended to the published minutes. The request was met with a statement that this would be discussed at the January meeting of the parish council.
What was there to discuss? Budget information would come under the model publication scheme that the councillors unanimously agreed to at their December meeting and as such should be made routinely available without anyone having to put in a request. The new publication scheme was supposed to take effect 1st January 2009. The attitude of Lydford Parish Council towards supplying information to the public still leaves a lot to be desired
At the beginning of 2009 it looked as if things were changing mainly due to the enthusiasm of one particular councillor who developed and published a website, http://lydfordparishoffice.co.uk This goes a long way towards meeting the legal requirement for a Publication Scheme. This councillor has done a grand job and it is hoped that this website continues and is kept up to date,
It will be interesting to see if the next FOI request, for information not published on the parish office site, will once again require a decision of the council before it is approved!
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