Scottish Government aims to improve citizens' access to information

Scottish Government aims to improve citizens' access to information Articles / Central Government   Date: May 19, 2008 - 07:50 AM Measures have been announced in the Scottish Parliament to help improve the public's "right to know". The Scottish Government First Minister used his Parliamentary Statement - Moving Scotland Forward - to announce the beginning of a pilot scheme within one area of the Scottish Government, the effect of which will be to substantially increase the proactive publication of Scottish Government information. Minister for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford hailed the announcement to improve public access to Scottish Government information as "great news for those who, like the Government, support the public's right to know". Mr Crawford said: "We are fully committed to greater transparency within public bodies - and we believe the Government should lead by example. "Last October we announced the six principles that underpin our approach to Freedom of Information - guided by our commitment to make publicly available as much information as possible without having to be asked for it. "We are committed to a change in culture from one of perceived secrecy to one of being open and accountable to the Scottish people. We want people to be able to see how we do what we do. "Today's announcement is great news for those who, like the Government, support the public's right to know. "Open government is good government - and we will continue in the direction of greater open-ness." The pilot of proactive publication referred to by the First Minister will take place across the Environment portfolio and will start shortly. It will see information published at least three months after creation and will substantially increase the amount of non-exempt information of "corporate value" (ie forming part of the record of the work of government) made available proactively. Whilst the clear aim is to ensure substantial increase in the amount of information provided it would not be right to publish all information - for instance it would be necessary to adequately protect against the release of, for example, personal data and commercially sensitive information. The pilot will be taken forward as a formal programme with a programme board. This article comes from PublicTechnology.net http://www.publictechnology.net/ The URL for this story is: http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=15758