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Freedom of Information extension would cost charities
Yesterday it was revealed that the Freedom of Information Act is not to be extended to charities contracting to perform services for national and local government. Unusually I found myself largely agreeing with Stephen Bubb and others that this is a good decision, because of the disproportionate cost to charities of responding to frivolous requests. Yet it is not an open and shut case.
Some time ago Gareth Jones ran a story on the Charity Finance website about the attack from fakecharities.org on charities which take money from the government. There is already tension along this interface, and the decision not to subject charities to FOI requests could add to that tension. For all our sakes, charities delivering government services must not abuse their FOI exemption. There must be a culture of responsiveness and transparency.
In a feature article in PF last year, Michael Naidu made out a compelling case for a regulatory body encouraging high standards throughout every area of charitable activity, not just fundraising. This may be an issue which makes that happen.
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Gareth Jones
29 Jul 2009
Hi Andrew, thanks for mentioning my story!
Would it not be possible for charities to factor in the cost of responding to FOIs during the initial tender?
Transparency is surely an essential part of delivering a public service, and i'm not convinced charities (or any body) will voluntarily submit to the levels of transparency that they ought to demonstrate.
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Andrew Scadding
30 Jul 2009
Thanks for the comment, Gareth. I\'m not sure I agree with you that charities will not\'submit to the levels of transparency that they ought to demonstrate'. I think political pressure, which is surfing on a wave of internet-generated pressure, is increasingly making greater transparency a simple fact of life. How many of us published our accounts on our website 20 years ago? Quite. So now there is pressure to make the accounts readable.
The bit that worries me in the FOI debate is the allegation, which I think emerged in your article but is certainly on the fakecharities.org site, that local authorities have created 'private' charities as a vehicle for service delivery. I think an FOI exemption for these 'private' charities, if they truly exist, would pose serious regulatory questions.
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