Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2016
Excellent, but I bet that none of them put forward the nonsensical amendments that we have seen today.
We are hearing about FOI exemptions being used to prevent people from finding out information on things such as the future of hospital services, and we are seeing the use and abuse of the parliamentary questions system to dish out pathetic non-answers in response to the concerns that we raise on behalf of our constituents. That is a real failure in our democracy that has gone completely unchecked in this Parliament.
All of that is designed to prevent the release of information, and the bill is just another inconvenience. The reality is that the bill’s tortuous journey does not show the Parliament in a good light. From the minute that the Government grudgingly took it over, I have never been convinced that it was serious about transparency. Initially, the Government did nothing for almost two years, with the minister hoping that it would all somehow just go away. Despite denials, the Government asked the committee to hold an inquiry. There was then a committee debate, a consultation and more delay. Then we had a further debate on the committee report. By the time that that had all happened, the bill was watered down to the bowl of rather meagre gruel that the minister brings to the table today.