Letter to say more organisations should be covered by the Act

Dear Sirs,

We welcome the recent comments from Michael Wills (Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice) recent comments “there is going to be an extension of FOI". Following the MPs' expenses scandal there is great public support for transparency for all public bodies.

Now is the Government to show it it is geninely committed to freedom of information and transparency by adding more organisations with public responsibilities to the Act. Members of the public will find many of the omissions from the Act to be illogical, unfair and unjustifiable. There are a large number of bodies which need to added to the Act more than we can cover in one letter but we will highlight certain examples.

We call on the Government to make the following bodies and officials subject to Freedom of Information Act 2000

1. Academies (which the DDSF describes as “state-funded schools”)
2. Returning Officers in general and local elections
3. Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
4. Bodies that control what we read and what we watch such as the Press Complaints Commission, the Advertising Standards Agency, and the British Board of Film Classification
5. Housing Associations
6. Companies owned two thirds or more by public sector bodies
7. UCAS – the organisation responsible for managing applications to higher education courses in the UK
8. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) which formulates national policing policy in a wide range of areas

There are many other bodies which we think the Government should seriously consider making subject to the Freedom of Information Act which are listed in an Appendix to this letter.

Regards,

NAMES