Meeting of the Parliament 17 February 2026 [Draft]
Patrick Harvie, in summing up, poured a bit of scorn on those who like to claim that the Scottish Government wants to be secretive or to sit on information. I gently say to him that that is almost certainly what a former minister would say, if I can be somewhat impish.
However, Patrick Harvie made a number of good remarks, and his point that, overall, there is a consensus about the need for reform and to update the legislation on freedom of information is absolutely correct. In that context, Katy Clark is to be congratulated on taking forward a bill that is not only important but very technical and not trivial in any respect. She deserves a great deal of credit for that, and I also thank the committee for its work.
At the heart of the matter is the question of what kind of Parliament, politics and Government we want, what we claim that we have and what we really have.
I think that the two most important contributions this afternoon came from Jamie Greene and Richard Leonard. Jamie Greene highlighted the reality for those who seek to gain information through freedom of information legislation. To be frank, most people find it a battle, given the constant stream of reasons why information cannot be revealed, and the swathes of paper; we are not allowed props in the chamber, but I caught a glimpse of what Jamie Greene was holding up. Huge amounts of toner are wasted on redactions for those who seek to print out documents. That is not good enough. To be frank, the FOI regime is in a state that means that people are losing trust because of the secrecy and the reluctance to divulge information.
Richard Leonard was absolutely right that it is about principle—in my view, two very important principles. The first leads directly to democracy itself. If we seek to have democracy, we must have openness and transparency, because after all, this is the public’s money: the money that they entrust to us to spend wisely. The only way in which the public can have trust and confidence is if they have clear transparency and openness on how that money is being spent.
Just as important is the question of how Government makes decisions on our behalf: how it understands those principles, the reasons and the information, and the way in which those decisions are being made. It is not just about secrecy; it is about good decision making. The ferries fiasco shines a great deal of light on that. The fact that it transpired that email chains were being used as evidence of decision making, with second-hand accounts of conversations being held with ministers, is not good enough, and we have to shine a light on poor decision making like that.
I commend the approach that has been taken in the bill—first, to follow the money, as it were, because, where public money is being spent, whether by the public or private sectors, we have to have accountability, and there has to be a presumption of disclosure. We must have frameworks that seek to proactively disclose information and remove exemptions, caveats and vetoes. That has to be the right way to proceed.
Today, it looks as though the Government may prevail in not allowing the bill to proceed, and that will be a great shame. The question for Parliament is how we want to proceed, because this work must proceed. I think that it would be an error for members to vote against the bill this afternoon. There may be a great deal of detail to be worked out, but at least it would be progress and something to be taken up by the next Parliament.
I do not believe that the Scottish Government is necessarily the best body to take the work forward. Parliament needs to think about how we could take it forward collectively on a cross-party basis. Ultimately, this is about scrutiny and accountability, and that is the business of Parliament. That is how I think that the work should be approached in the next session of Parliament, if the bill does not proceed today.
However, we have an opportunity to take this work forward and we all agree that it should be taken forward, so I urge members to vote for the bill at stage 1 this evening.