Greens pledge tougher freedom of information regime
For immediate release 27 April 2011
Scottish legislation on Freedom of Information remains riddled with weaknesses and loopholes, the Scottish Greens said today, and the party pledged to crack down on the continuing efforts of civil servants and Ministers to withhold information of genuine public concern. The party would extend the existing legislation to cover bodies currently exempt - such as COSLA, ACPOS, the arms-length trusts set up by local authorities, and private prisons - as well as to allow relevant access to public information held by contractors working on public projects.
Greens would also remove the cost threshold at which requests can be refused, currently set at