Meeting of the Parliament 17 February 2026 [Draft]
I congratulate Katy Clark on getting the bill to this stage, but I have to say that I feel for her after what she must have thought was quite a negative report from the committee, which arrived at the conclusion that the Government should legislate in this area. As I said earlier in an intervention, the Government had the opportunity, as it does with all members’ bills, to take on this bill; it chose not to. The member proceeded because the Government did not. That is perhaps not surprising, because we have a Government that is addicted to secrecy, so it has chosen not to legislate in an area that could herald a new era of transparency.
The committee convener thanked Katy Clark for her valuable contribution. It has been valuable, but if we were to follow the committee’s advice and wait for the Government, and then potentially wait for the committee to do something, we could be waiting for years and years, and we could be at the end of the next session of Parliament before anything happens, so we really have to agree to the bill at this stage.
The policy memorandum sets out that
“The main aim of the Bill is to improve transparency in Scotland by strengthening existing measures in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002”.
The committee agreed that there is a need for freedom of information reform—it agreed with that point—and surely we are here today to decide whether we agree with the aims of the bill rather than the details. I always understood that to be what stage 1 is about—the details come later. I can quite comfortably say that I agree with the general principles of the bill while having concerns about elements of it—at this stage, those concerns are not the point.
I have supported Katy Clark on this throughout. I have attended events put on by her and the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland. George Adam, as he said earlier, was at one of those events, and it was at one such event in Glasgow that I met the late Lord Wallace, who was a strong supporter of what the member is trying to do.
The 2002 act came into force just over 20 years ago, so surely now is the right time to update it and improve its provisions. The bill addresses shortcomings in the current legislation that have been identified by campaigners, journalists and members of the public. We have the chance to end the years of secret Scotland and bring the country into the light of disclosure. Let us take it.