Stormont Trying to Kill Off Freedom of Information
23 March 2012
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I am appalled but not surprised to learn that the Northern Ireland Executive wants to charge the public for asking questions about how they spend taxpayers’ money. The suggestion is contained in a submission to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee which is reviewing the operation of the Freedom of Information Act.
“This is typical of OFMdFM’s approach. Remember – Peter Robinson recently berated the media for reporting stories about the economic downturn. Now, not content with the degree of control they have over the press by virtue of having 161 publicly funded spin doctors in executive departments, Stromont wants to put an end to the Freedom of Information Act as we know it.
“A persistent problem which I and indeed many journalists have faced is Stormont’s lack of transparency. Difficult questions to departments – particularly OFMdFM – go for months without being answered in defiance of the Assembly’s Standing Orders which place a mandatory duty on Ministers to respond within 10 days.
“Anyone who has experience of trying to use the Freedom of Information Act to extract information from OFMdFM will know that this is a tortuous process which can go on for months as officials often use spurious exception arguments in order to conceal embarrassing facts and figures.
“As Matthew Elliot, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance has said:
“The Freedom of Information Act helped shift the balance of power back to the public who pay, and away from those who spend.
“The legislation has been used to expose how civil servants who waste money and uncover information politicians have tried to hide, this watering down of the rules is designed to reduce accountability”.
“As well as suggesting that the public be charged for making FOI requests Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have proposed that the identity of the person making the request should be made known and that civil servants should be able to charge more of their time towards the £600 limit for getting information.
“These proposals are clearly designed to discourage the public from making requests as their identity will be disclosed – something which rightly does not happen when it comes to civil servants named in documents disclosed under FOI as their personal details are redacted and will mean that departments will reach the £600 limit much more quickly meaning that many more requests will be refused on cost grounds.
“The public will remember how former First Minister Ian Paisley claimed that requests “are sent in by lazy journalists, who will not do any work, but who think that we should pay them [sic] and give them the information that they want.”
“Of course, public money has never had to pay journalists – but it has been used to flood news rooms with propaganda from Executive press offices.
“Now that I am an MLA I am able to go down the route of submitting written questions to uncover information. No doubt OFMdFM would like to shut that avenue as well given some of the facts which have been exposed – such as annual £800,000 cost of the OFMdFM press office (part of the £5 million Stormont spends on spin doctors annual), OFMdFM’s £16 million annual staff bill or the £130,099 Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have spent on hospitality in the past year.
“The Freedom of Information Act is a vital tool when it comes to the public and the press holding elected representatives to account. If the Executive can find the money to award a £400,000 contract to photographers then they can afford to cover the cost of operating the Freedom of Information Act. It is estimated that FOI accounts for 0.0016% of Westminster’s total budget – a small price to pay for a piece of legislation which is invaluable to those with an interest in holding the powers that be to account.”
Note to editors
The Northern Ireland Civil Service submission to Westminster’s Justice Committee is online here.
Scroll down to FOI 74.
