A new organisation was launched (the 'Centre for Public Scrutiny') designed to meet the new demands scrutiny will make on elected representatives and the professionals who support them. It will aim to promote the role of scrutiny and raise its profile; develop a rigorous understanding of the different approaches to scrutiny and how to make scrutiny effective; and facilitate links between different tiers of government and their scrutiny activities. (The centre is part of the Improvement and Development Agency, established by local government organisations.)
Source: Press release 4.12.02, Improvement and Development Agency (020 7296 6693)
Links: Press release | CPS homepage
Date: 2002-Dec
A report summarised a survey of confidential reporting/whistleblowing procedures in English and Welsh local authorities. 89 per cent of councils responding said they allow concerns to be reported anonymously, and 94 per cent specified that confidentiality would be maintained.
Source: A Survey of Confidential Reporting/Whistleblowing Procedures in English and Welsh Local Authorities, Employers Organisation for Local Government (020 7296 6600)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2002-Dec
The parliamentary ombudsman ruled that government departments must publish a league table revealing how much has been done to reduce the level of official secrecy.
Source: Press release 3.12.02, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (020 7217 4163)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Dec
Responding to a report by a committee of MPs, the government promised to give prompt, accurate and honest information in response to parliamentary questions, or say which secrecy rule prevents it giving an answer. (The response followed a case where a minister had been found to have given a misleading reply.)
Source: Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions: The Government Response to the Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2001-02, First Report (Session 2002-03), HC 136, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian article
Date: 2002-Dec
An order was made requiring public authorities to adopt and maintain a publication scheme under the Freedom of Information Act. Each scheme lists the classes of information the authority will be making available to the public. The obligation applies to most parts of central government from 30 November 2002, to local government from 28 February 2003, and to the National Health Service from 30 October 2003.
Source: Press release 13.11.02, Lord Chancellor s Department (020 7210 8500)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Nov
The government announced its intention to repeal or amend nearly 100 items of legislation which currently prohibit disclosure of information, and replace them with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Source: Press release 28.11.02, Lord Chancellor s Department (020 7210 8500)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Nov
Only 33 per cent of people in the United Kingdom trust their government, according to a poll - the lowest percentage of any European Union country apart from France.
Source: Eurobarometer Standard Report 2002: National Report - United Kingdom, EB 57.1, European Commission (fax: +32 2 296 1749)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2002-Oct
A further 29 public bodies were added to the list of authorities subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, including the General Social Care Council and the National Care Standards Commission.
Source: Press release 21.10.02, Lord Chancellor s Department (020 7210 8500)
Links: Press release
Date: 2002-Oct
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that a man (who had spent intermittent periods in local authority voluntary care while maintaining contact with his parents) had been illegally refused access by social workers to information on his father.
Source: Case of M.G. v The United Kingdom, 24.9.02, European Court of Human Rights (33 0 388412018)
Links: Judgement (Word file)
Date: 2002-Sep
A report drew on the experience of a number of local authorities to identify best practice in the use of overview and scrutiny processes.
Source: Stephanie Snape, Steve Leach and Colin Copus, The Development of Overview and Scrutiny in Local Government, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (01709 891318)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2002-Sep
The government began consultation on the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in local government in England.
Source: Access to Information in Local Government: A Policy Paper on the Current and Future Framework Governing Access to Information for Local Authorities in England, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Consultation Document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Sep
A committee of MPs said that departments' inability to lay audited resource accounts before Parliament in the autumn after the end of the financial year 'knocks a major hole' in the government's strategy for financial reporting to Parliament.
Source: Parliamentary Accountability of Departments, Seventh Report (Session 2001-02), HC 340-I, House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 30/4, Digest 120, paragraph 10.1
Date: 2002-Sep
Official guidance was issued to government departments and related public bodies on how to prepare for implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.
Source: Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Publication Schemes: Central Government and Non-Departmental Public Body Guidance, Lord Chancellor's Department (020 7210 8500)
Links: Guidance | LCD press release
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 31/3, Digest 123, paragraph 10.2
Date: 2002-Jul