Here’s a civil servant I admire. Whatever your view of the Freedom of Information Act; you may loathe and detest it, the fact is that it exists. It’s become part of the democratic fabric of the nation. I use it frequently – very often to ascertain facts that I cannot get from Parliamentary Questions. To change it now, would be folly.
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[...] Tom Watson MP: Freedom of Information Britain’s original blogging MP: “The Freedom of Information Act … [has] become part of the democratic fabric of the nation … To change it now, would be folly. “ (tags: foi foia parliament) [...]
I’m glad you find the Freedom of Information Act act useful, and I’m pleased to hear you have used it in order to uncover facts when other routes were closed to you.
I have to wonder why you consistently supported the The Freedom of Information Amendment (Bill) 2007 private members bill, which exempts Parliament
and MPs from the same transparency as we may scrutinise other public bodies, at every point through its passage.
Please don’t tell me it’s to protect the privacy of constituents’ correspondence, because you should know that’s already covered by the Data Protection Act.
Since you’re a frequent user of the Freedom of Information Act, and describe it as “part of the democratic fabric of the nation”, I’d be very interested to hear why you believe Parliament should be exempt from it.
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