Letter-SP-PAPLSC-FindlayMSP

Introduction
This is a letter drafted to request Neil FIndlay MSP to raise our concerns that the FOI Act should not be reviewed by a sitting Scottish Information Commissioner.

It may seem a bit peculiar to write to Neil Findlay MSP to forward to Jackie Baillie MSP and Neil Fitzpatrick MSP, but his role in this is a very important one.

If people were to ask why we aren’t raising this with PAPLS it's because we already know they are taking their lead from Public Appointments Committee who are taking the lead from Neil Fitzpatrick, who committed to post-legislative scrutiny off the back of the motion and debate in Holyrood, initiated by Neil Findlay. So his support for the direction the scrutiny should take is decisive from a moral standpoint.

Letter (draft)
Mr. Neil Findlay,

We are writing to you as a group of citizens and organisations that share your concerns about the Scottish Government’s record on freedom of information. In July, we were part of a group who wrote to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee to suggest scrutinising the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

https://opengovpioneers.miraheze.org/wiki/Letter-SP-PAPLSC

The Committee has shortlisted the Act for consideration pending the outcome of a decision about who best to scrutinise the [null Act] .

Following the debate in Parliament on XX about freedom of information, you will remember that the Minister Joe Fitzpatrick MSP committed himself to commissioning a review of the use of FOI [need to check exact commitment?] It has come to our attention that the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has since written to Joe Fitzpatrick to suggest the Scottish Information Commissioner as an appropriate body to undertake this review..

http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Standards/General%20Documents/20170911SPPAConvener_to_MinPB.pdf

We do not consider that the Scottish Information Commissioner is the appropriate body to scrutinise the Act. The public body responsible for implementing the legislation is not suitably independent enough to provide the level of scrutiny required. We consider that a committee of MSPs would be a more credible body to undertake this important task. Perhaps it would make sense for PAPLS to undertake the review as part of or alongside its post-legislative scrutiny of the Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act.

To ensure the credibility of the motion that you had worked so hard to pass we think it is vital that we address this issue before it takes hold. We hope that you would be able to raise this with Jackie Baillie, acting convener of the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee, and Joe Fitzpatrick MSP, Minister for Parliamentary Business, supporting the PAPLS as the relevant body in which such a review should rest.

We hope you share our concerns and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,