THE Scottish Government’s freedom of information performance has fallen “dramatically” during the Covid pandemic, the country’s FoI watchdog has revealed.
Daren Fitzhenry said the unexpectedly rapid decline raised “significant concerns” about the Government’s efforts to improve its previously inadequate regime.
He warned that if the ministers failed to divert resources back into FoI it would “send a dangerous message” about the importance of transparency at a time when the benefit of open government had “never been clearer”.
The Government said it recognised the risk of a "loss of momentum" and it was committed to getting back on course "as soon as is practicable".
Scotland’s Information Commissioner first intervened to improve the Government’s slow and obstructiver record on FoI disclosures in 2018, after complaints from the media.
In a new progress report, Mr Fitzhenry covers April 2019 to the end of May this year, praising the Government’s “significant progress” up to the Covid outbreak.
He commended the Government for developing more efficient FoI procedures, training 280 specialist case-handlers, and expanding staff courses, leading to more FoI requests being answered within the legal deadline and requesters demanding fewer reviews and appeals.
The number of appeals from people dissatisfied with Government decisions fell to just 53 in 2019/20, the lowest since FoI was introduced in Scotland in 2005.
However, Mr Fitzhenry said April and May saw a dramatic drop-off in performance as the government diverted resources to respond to the Covid pandemic.
Initial responses issued fell from 95 per cent in April to 58% in May, while the number of reviews issued on time fell from around 85% in 2019 to 64% in April and 43% in May.
One of the SNP Government's first legislative responses to Covid was to try to triple the legal time limit for answering FoI answers from 20 working days to 60.
The plan was dropped after a backlash at Holyrood.
Mr Fitzhenry said: “While some disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic is to be expected, the extent and speed of the Scottish Government’s recent decline raises real concerns about the long-term sustainability of its FOI improvement work.
“I would urge Ministers to direct immediate attention towards this work to ensure that the recent improvements are safeguarded and protected.
“Failing to take action at this time will send a dangerous message to staff and the wider public about the perceived importance of openness, transparency and accountability through FOI, at a time when the public benefit arising from these characteristics has never been clearer.”
Mr Fitzhenry is due to carry out a second on-site assessment of Scottish Government FoI practice in 2021 to help decide whether to win up or continue his intervention.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to delivering and maintaining the improvements agreed in our 2018 Action Plan and consider those parts of this report concerned with our progress in 2019/20 to be fair and well-balanced.
“We are pleased that Commissioner explicitly commends our approach towards improving FoI performance over this period and acknowledges the hard work of staff across the organisation.
“We have some concerns about the conclusions drawn in relation to the impact of the pandemic on our performance and how we respond to that.
"We recognise the danger of a loss of momentum and we remain committed to getting our improvement work back on course as soon as is practicable.
“The impact on the Government of resourcing our response to the ongoing emergency, particularly in the early months, has been enormous, with large numbers of staff being redeployed and having to work extremely long hours. While the virus remains active, and in the absence of a vaccine, our priority must be to focus our resources on suppressing the virus.
“The response rate since the start of the pandemic was impacted by the organisational changes made to tackle the public health crisis, which continues to be the absolute priority.
“Despite the exceptional challenges of the Covid-19 crisis, we have seen a significant improvement in June, answering 79% of FOI requests on time, providing a strong base on which to build going forward.”
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