I am involved in conversations about local government governance models and I am concerned as I learn about the tricks that public authorities are using to frustrate scrutiny exercised by FOI and SAR correspondence. Here are my notes.
Govt & the Law
I started at the GLA and came across these links outlining the laws impacting the administration of local government.
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_England
- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/29/contents – Greater London Authority Act 1999
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Authority_Act_1999
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Authority_Act_2007
- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/29/section/66 – Section 66, ethical standards, now replaced
- Greater London Authority Acts and Orders, it was amended, a lot, this is at legislation.co.uk
- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/22/contents – Local Govt Act 2000 – this supercededs the GLA Act’s ethical standards clause, also described on wikipedia.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localism_Act_2011, the act & orders at legislation.gov.uk.
- http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/20/contents/enacted – Localism 2011 Act
I have written to the MHC&LG to ask about transitions to committee led councils as an FOI.
Scrutiny
This involves the FOI and specific scrutiny powers of the various scrutiny committees.
- Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny in Local and Combined Authorities
- https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/11%2064_Scrutiny%20for%20councillors_03_1.pdf
- HoC Research Briefing “Overview & Scrutiny in Local Government” – SN06520
The ICO
- How to disclose information safely by the ICO, not quite what we want, rather the obverse.
- https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/2259722/subject-access-code-of-practice.pdf