Carole Ewart

The bill only makes the umbrella body, the Care Board, subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FoISA). Therefore care services provided directly by a private and third sector body will not be ‘designated’, so people cannot directly enforce their right to access information.

The principle of consistent transparency to enable scrutiny is a longstanding issue of concern which was amplified during the pandemic.

Retrospectively, evidence was gained about Covid-19 deaths in care homes broken down by individual care homes through an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner who concluded “there is a strong public interest in disclosure of the information…” 

Carole Ewart, convener of CFoIS said: “FoI rights should follow the service not, as currently proposed, the provider of the service. The purpose of FoISA is to make provision for the disclosure of information held by Scottish public authorities or by persons providing services for them.

“The national care service centralises the provision of social care and that will mean the private and Third sectors will receive contracts to deliver services directly. Whether people receive care from a private company or a public body, they should equally enjoy the enforceable right to access information and the architecture of transparency provided by FoISA. What is being proposed is a confusing patchwork of rights and duties which provides inconsistent transparency and accountability.

“CFoIS urges MSPs to adopt the same approach to social care as it does to the NHS as individual GP surgeries are designated under FoISA even though many are run as private companies.”