South Lanarkshire


South Lanarkshire Council has responded to my recent FOI request - to say that I will receive a detailed reply by no later than 4 December 2012.

Yippee!

Because I fully expect this Labour-led council (which is propped up with Conservative councillor support) - to live up to the example set by their leaders in the Scottish Parliament.

Where the Labour leader (Johann Lamont) and Tory Leader (Ruth Davidson) - have both been vocal in calling for the Scottish Government to behave openly and transparently - over Freedom of Information and legal advice.

I'm so excited I can hardly wait for 4 December to arrive - though I imagine it will feel a bit strange - like opening one of your Christmas presents early.

So watch this space.

Double Standards (8 November 2012)

I have been following the recent debate in the Holyrood Parliament - during which the Scottish Labour Party has been giving the SNP Government a hard time over its attitude to Freedom of Information (FOI).

If you take Scottish Labour at its word - the party is absolutely committed to openness and transparency when it comes to FOI.

So I decided to put this theory to the test - by issuing a new FOI request to South Lanarkshire Council.

Here's what I had to say in a recent letter to the council's new chief executive - Lindsay Freeland.

I shall report back when I get a reply from the council - and/or its Labour leader Councillor Eddie McAvoy.

5 November 2012

Lindsay Freeland
Chief Executive
South Lanarkshire Council

BY E-MAIL

Dear Mr Freeland

FOISA Request

I would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.

I am asking for a copy of the legal advice obtained by South Lanarkshire Council's on which is based its appeal to the UK Supreme Court and the Council's refusal to publish pay information on Equal Pay, previously ordered by the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) and supported subsequently in a unanimous judgement by Lords Mackay, Brailsford and Marnoch in the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.

I am copying this request to the Leader of South Lanarkshire Council - Councillor Eddie McAvoy - because the Leader of Councillor McAvoy's own party, Johann Lamont (the Scottish Labour Leader), has taken a keen interest in FOI matters recently, as can be seen in the following extract from First Minister's Questions on 20 September 2012, which is reproduced via the BBC's Democracy Live web site:

"Ms Lamont said the first minister 'can't be straight with or have respect for the Scottish people' as he refused to reveal what legal advice he had. She asked why he was spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of Scottish people's money to stop the people of Scotland finding out what he was doing."

So I hope South Lanarkshire Council will take the same view about the need for openness and transparency in these matters because to do otherwise would suggest that the Scottish Labour Party operates to completely different standards of behaviour - when it comes to local and national government.

I look forward to your reply and would be grateful if you could respond to me by e-mail to: markirvine@compuserve.com

Kind regards


Mark Irvine

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