This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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FOI 'serving Scotland well'
15/03/2007
Minister for Parliamentary Business Margaret Curran today praised public authorities for embracing Scotland's Freedom of Information Act as the announced the outcome of a Review of the legislation.
The Minister said:
"The Review did not provide conclusive evidence to underpin any decisions on changes to the fees system.
"However, it is important that FOI strikes a balance between encouraging use of the Act by the public while not imposing an unreasonable burden on authorities.
"We will therefore be looking in more detail at how the Fee Regulations are working in practice across Scotland."
The Review also gathered initial views on what additional bodies could be covered by Freedom of Information.
The Executive will be finalising the conditions for considering a body for coverage, and consult with those bodies which Ministers decide are suitable before the end of the year.
Ms Curran said:
"FOI provides Ministers with a power to bring other organisations which are not Scottish public authorities within the coverage of the Act. It has always been our intention to use this power when appropriate and proportionate.
"Freedom of Information has undoubtedly delivered significant advances in the openness and transparency of Scottish public authorities.
"In the space of two years many thousands of requests have been made, the majority by members of the public for information about issues affecting their everyday lives and communities.
"There is clearly a high degree of public awareness of the legislation and I am greatly encouraged that people are making use of their rights to request information."
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 came into force on January 1, 2005 and provides a statutory right of access for the public to information held by Scottish public authorities.
These include almost 10,000 authorities and range from national bodies such as the Scottish Parliament, down to individual GPs. Similar UK legislation applies to reserved and cross-border authorities.
Section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act provides for Scottish Ministers by order to bring other bodies which are not Scottish public authorities within the scope of the legislation, where they appear to Scottish Ministers to exercise functions of a public nature or are providing, under contract to a Scottish public authority, any service whose provision is a function of that authority. Before making any such order, Scottish Ministers must consult with each body to which it would relate.
The current regulations prescribe a fee structure and designate an amount above which authorities are not obliged to provide the information sought. This is currently set at £600.
Under the current fee structure, the first £100 worth of work on obtaining the information is free to the applicant. If the cost of providing the information would be more than £100 but less than £600 authorities can charge 10 per cent of the cost of providing the information.
The maximum chargeable would, therefore, be £50 where the cost to the authority was £600. Above the £600 limit the authority can charge the full amount or refuse to provide the information requested. Authorities may charge only for costs incurred in locating, retrieving and providing the information and can charge a maximum of £15 per person per hour for staff time.