Scottish Executive considering extending FOI (Scotland) Act

Press release
30/06/2008

The prospect of extending the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act to cover more organisations carrying out certain public functions has been raised.

Parliamentary Business Minister Bruce Crawford said the Government is committed to fully exploring the issues around coverage but stressed that a final decision on extending coverage would be taken only after consultation with interested parties and those organisations potentially affected.

As a first step, Mr Crawford will have discussions with interested parties about bringing within the scope of the Act the following organisations:

• Registered social landlords
• Contractors who provide public services that are a function of a public authority (for example, contractors providing prison services)
• Local authority trusts or bodies set up by local authorities (for example, bodies set up by local authorities as limited companies to run leisure facilities)

Full press release.