PUBLIC SERVICES SHOULD NOT LURK IN CLOAKS OF SECRECY

Responding to news that the Scottish Executive is considering widening the scope of the Freedom of Information Act north of the border, Liberal Democrat Constitutional Affairs spokesman, Lord Tyler, said:

"I called for a UK wide expansion of the law earlier this month.

"The Scottish Freedom of Information Act is already stronger than that in England.  And now it appears the Scots could gain more transparency still.

"It would be quite wrong to leave English public authorities in translucent limbo, with parts of the country's vital public services continuing to lurk in cloaks of secrecy."

GOVERNED BY OSTRICHES?

Liberal Democrat Constitutional Affairs spokesman, Lord Tyler, today (Wednesday) challenged Government Ministers to accept that the legitimacy of election results depends on the integrity of the Electoral Register.

Speaking in the House of Lords, he said: ‘Does the Minister accept that making voting more convenient, by postal voting on demand, weekend voting and so on, is much less important and should take second place to reducing fraud? Will he undertake to replace household registration with the much more accurate individual registration, which is supported by all official and independent authorities on this issue, in the forthcoming Constitutional Renewal Bill, which is due in the next Session? Does he recall the judgment in the Slough election court earlier this year? The commissioner concluded:  “There is no reason to suppose this is an isolated incident. Roll stuffing is childishly simple to commit and very difficult to detect. To ignore the probability that it is widespread, particularly in local elections, is a policy that even an ostrich would despise”’.

Yet the Minister insisted, “the system is one of great integrity and we should not put doubt into the minds of anyone about that.  Equally, it is right that we should do everything that we can to encourage people to vote, including encouraging more postal voting.

ENDS

MINISTER PROMISES FOI REVIEW

The Government today (Thursday) said it would review freedom of information arrangements for private contractors providing a public service, following a special debate called by Liberal Democrat Constitutional Affairs spokesman, Lord Tyler.

Speaking in the House of Lords the Liberal Democrat Peer said a raft of the "institutions on which elections are fought and lost" were outside the remit of the Act.

Citing academy schools, NHS contractors, private prisons and Network Rail Lord Tyler highlighted a substantial number of public services, which remains under 'cloaks of secrecy'.