THIS month, I was pleased to lodge my final proposal for a members’ Bill to reform freedom of information (FOI) in Scotland.
 
For those less familiar with FOI and how it works, the concept is simple: public bodies, like councils, health boards and government departments, must publish certain information, and as a “taxpayer” you have the right to request access to information they hold.
 
Unsurprisingly though, these bodies delivering public services aren’t always forthcoming with said information, and most troublingly, many aren’t even obliged to abide by FOI in the first place.
 
It’s for those reasons I’ve been working with the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland to come forward with a Bill which closes loopholes and makes the FOI regime fit for the modern day.
 
The proposals are backed by the Scottish TUC, and my recently published consultation indicated close to 75 per cent of respondents were in support.
 
Having now lodged my final proposal, I need to secure 18 signatures from across the Scottish Parliament over the next month, which would ensure “earned the right to introduce a Bill.”
 
The electoral composition of the Scottish Parliament means there’s no guarantee such a Bill would pass, but I believe that’s why it’s vitally important the left in Scotland engages with the issue.
 
When campaigners fought for and won FOI, which was legislated for in both the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament in the early 2000s, one of their guiding motivations was that the public deserves full disclosure about how they’re governed and how their services are delivered.
 
This is a principle that governing parties are fond of invoking in rhetoric if not always in practice, and that’s true across most Western liberal nations.
 
The Scottish government, for example, regularly cites its commitment to transparency and upholding human rights, yet it has essentially been in special measures for five years over its own FOI performance following an intervention by the Scottish Information Commissioner.
 
As socialists, we must not shrug our shoulders at this or accept it as a natural consequence of power. If we believe in the extension of democracy to every sphere, that must mean starting by holding all who wield it to account.
 
Since FOI was first introduced, the way public institutions have been run in this country has evolved dramatically and not in a way which has been good for democracy or the public’s right to know.
 
Publicly funded bodies have been moulded more and more into target-driven, market-oriented organisations. Many have a reputation for providing late responses or citing exemptions or confidentiality clauses to avoid scrutiny wherever possible.
 
Then there’s the issue of which organisations are delivering these services. In the past two decades, we’ve seen more and more services outsourced to the private and third sectors.
 
Not only have governments opened the gates to allow firms to siphon off profits for shareholders, they’ve also allowed them to remain entirely exempt from FOI.
 
An alarming example, which was highlighted by families of Covid victims, and which I referred to throughout the consultation process, is that of care homes. The vast majority of our care sector is now run privately, in many cases by companies which are owned offshore in tax havens and profiteering on a rampant scale.
 
During the Covid pandemic, many families desperately tried to obtain key information about their loved ones via FOI requests to care homes directly. Legally, the care homes weren’t obliged to provide this information, unless they were run by a local authority.
 
Even the Scottish government has accepted the farce of this particular inequity, committing to a future consultation on extending designation.
 
However, this consultation will be entirely limited to the care sector and isn’t to be published until after the passing of the National Care Service Bill, which is itself delayed.
 
This effectively means key aspects of the governance of many public services — including lifeline services for vulnerable and disabled people — will remain in the dark for a while longer.
 
It’s a key reason I want to mobilise Scottish readers to get involved with my campaign and lobby their own MSPs to support my proposal.
 
We’ve had years of polling, committee reports and post-legislative scrutiny, and the conclusions of my own consultation were overwhelming. Now it’s time for action.
 
My message is simple: public information rights should follow the public pound. I would encourage readers to join the fight to make that a reality.

Katy Clark is West Scotland Labour MSP. Follow her on X @KatySClark.