Private members’ bill says public contractors and housing associations should be subject to FoI requests

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Contractors carrying out public works and housing associations – including the body that managed Grenfell Tower – would be made subject to freedom of information requests under a private members’ bill going before parliament this week.



The proposal to extend FoI powers – which would also place firms like Carillion, G4S and Serco under greater public scrutiny – will be introduced by the Labour MP Andy Slaughter and backed by the Campaign for Freedom of Information.

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Over £250bn, a third of all public spending, is channelled to private companies or charities for services contracted out by local councils, central government and other official agencies.

Slaughter’s freedom of information (extension) bill is due to be considered by the Commons on Friday. “There have been significant changes to the way public services are procured over the 18 years since the FoI Act came into effect, with more public services than ever being provided through private companies,” he said.



“The general public has a right to know as much about Carillion or Serco when they are given public contracts or providing public services as we do about public authorities doing the same work. My bill would bring FoI into line with the way public services are now being delivered in 2018.”

Carillion, a building and services contractor, collapsed abruptly earlier this year with the loss of thousands of jobs. There had been little advance notice of its financial vulnerability.

The existing Freedom of Information Act contains a clause that allows the government to bring any contractor within its remit, or any other organisation providing a public service.

This has happened only twice, however, with the Association of Chief Police Officers (now known as the National Police Chiefs’ Council) and Network Rail becoming subject to FoI.

Slaughter’s bill also seeks to amend the clause within the existing act which makes it a criminal offence to destroy or conceal information that is being requested. Currently, charges must be brought within six months of the act of destruction; this would be extended to three years.

Slaughter, a former shadow housing minister and the MP for Hammersmith, west London, has campaigned about high rise fire risks since a 2016 blaze in a Shepherds Bush tower block not far from Grenfell Tower.

The Grenfell Action Group had attempted to extract information about fire safety from the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation (KCTMO) using FoIs. The organisation initially indicated it would comply but ultimately resisted providing information on the grounds that it was not a public body and not subject to an FoI request.



Under his extended FoI bill, Slaughter said: “bodies in this position would always be holding information on behalf of the authority responsible for the contract and the relevant information would always be accessible, subject to exemptions.”

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The private members’ bill would bring all housing associations under the FoI act, meaning that tenants would be able to request information from their social landlords. Despite the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people, social housing tenants usually find themselves unable to request fire safety information from their housing associations.

Other areas that would be subject to FoIs under Slaughter’s extension bill are local safeguarding children boards, electoral registration officers, returning officers and the housing ombudsman.

As the FoI act currently stands, members of the public can only request information held by a limited range of public authorities and government departments.

The Cabinet Office takes the view that there are already provisions within the existing act to extend the scope of FOIs and is opposed to Slaughter’s bill.