Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo, has raised concerns that charities delivering public services could be burdened by a new drive to broaden the scope of Freedom of Information requirements.

Sir Stephen was a commenting on a statement made by justice minister Simon Hughes in the House of Commons this week. Hughes said: “We intend to publish a revised code of practice to make sure that private companies that carry out public functions have Freedom of Information requirements in their contracts and go further than that. We hope that that will be in place by the end of this year."

In response Sir Stephen has written to the justice minister, urging him not to place undue and unfair burdens on charities with any reforms to Freedom of Information regulations.

He sought assurances that this was not the “start of a slippery slope” towards further bureaucracy for charities and social enterprises, and asked for full consultation.

The Ministry of Justice has today said that there are no plans to extend the FOI Act to charities or private sector organisations delivering public contracts.

A spokewoman said there will be no legislation, but a code of practice directed at government departments to promote openness about contractors that do not fall under the current FOI rules. "Therefore it is not for contractors or charities to sign up to directly,” she advised.
 
Justice minister Simon Hughes said: "The coalition government has already extended FOI and brought more than 100 additional organisations within its scope. As we have said many times, we will continue to look at extending the scope of FOI. I want public authorities to interpret their obligations about information held by contractors broadly and go beyond the bare minimum required under the Act.

“As previously announced, later this year we are publishing a revised code of practice to promote openness about outsourced public services in response to FOI requests."