Meeting of the Parliament 17 February 2026 [Draft]
I am sure that Mr Simpson has been listening. If he listened to the points made by Sue Webber and the convener about the many issues with the bill, he would know that it would be impossible in the five weeks remaining in this session to undertake the tasks that have been laid out by the committee. That is the reality, and I am afraid that we have to deal in reality.
Scotland has had strong and internationally well-regarded laws on freedom of information for more than 21 years, and I pay tribute to Jim Wallace for his part in that. He transformed access to information about government and public services. Last year, more than 109,000 information requests were handled across the public sector, with 87.5 per cent resulting in the release of information. That shows that the legislation is delivering on its main purpose of providing information and developing a more open and transparent culture.
There are, of course, areas that can be improved on. FOI law has important strengths, but it is right that we consider areas for improvement. The extension of FOISA has been pursued far more actively in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. In 2013, coverage was extended to local authority culture and leisure trusts. In 2016, it was extended to grant-aided and independent special schools and private prisons. In 2019, it was extended to cover registered social landlords, bringing around 200 new bodies under FOISA. We are the only part of the UK to have done that. I acknowledge, as I did when Katy Clark raised the point at committee, that, much as a process is needed, it can be clunky at times. There are areas of the process that could be improved.
We are consulting on designating independent care homes and care-at-home providers, which would be the most significant extension to date and could mean that around 2,000 services that are delivered by around 1,000 different organisations would become subject to FOI law.
The committee recommended that today’s debate should be used to set out plans to prioritise designations beyond the current consultation. That will be for a new Government and a new Parliament. However, for my part, I can say that we would set out a programme of work for considering extension to private and third sector organisations that deliver public services, drawing on the issues that were raised in discussions on the bill and working with stakeholders, including the commissioner.
There is, of course, no question but that FOI obligations place demands on resources, so we must take a well-considered and proportionate approach and ensure that any extension does not duplicate work but will add meaningfully to people’s ability to access information without placing unreasonable burdens on organisations, particularly smaller organisations.
The Government is committed to strong FOI rights. We are consulting on the extension of the legislation and will lay a revised version of the statutory guidance for public authorities in the Parliament before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Again, I thank the committee and commend Katy Clark, who has restarted the debate on how we ensure that FOI legislation works well in Scotland.