UNISON Scotland - Freedom of Information Bill

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Freedom of Information - Email your MSPs

How to find your MSPs
You have one local constituency MSP and seven regional MSPs.

To find your MSPs from your postcode click here for MSP search on the Scottish Parliament site (opens in a new window)

Note the names of your local and regional MSPs, then use the drop down list on the email form on this page to select a name, fill in the form and click 'send'.

Please send one email each to all your own MSPs, local and regional.

Thanks for helping!

Freedom of Information - Our right to know:

UNISON Scotland FOI page

Email now to lobby your MSPs over the Freedom of Information Bill

Let your MSPs know you want them to...

Here's what you need to do.

Check the name of your MSP (see How to find your MSP - right)
Please remember - you have 7 regional MSPs and a local MSP. They all represent you. Please use the form below to send emails to as many of your own MSPs as you can
Fill in the form below
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Note: Please fill in all the fields

To:	click to choose
Subject:
Your message: If you re-write this in your own words, you will make this action even more effective.	Dear MSP STAGE 3 DEBATE ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (AMENDMENT) (SCOTLAND) BILL WED 16 JAN 2013, 2PM I am contacting you to ask you please to vote on Wednesday in favour of protecting Freedom of Information rights in Scotland. I support the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFoIS) and UNISON Scotland in their campaign to amend the Bill, aiming to protect the public’s right to know. They are calling on MSPs to: • Support amendments: 1 – 9, 12 and 14 • Oppose amendments: 10 and 11 • No view: amendment 13 which appears to be of a technical nature. I believe that the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FoISA) must be reformed to ensure a robust framework so the public enjoy an enforceable right to know. It is essential that the public has full rights to information on PPP/PFI contracts, leisure trusts, Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOS), housing associations and other bodies currently not covered by FOISA. There is strong and widespread support for information rights to ‘follow the public pound’. A major reason for the weakening of FoISA is that promises to add named bodies and categories of bodies have not been honoured, leading to information rights being lost. The Scottish Government and previous Scottish Executive Administrations have never used their powers to do so, through an order under section 5 of FOISA. Amending the Bill is also necessary to meet the Scottish Government’s own FoI principles, 1 and 2: that “the public’s right to know remains an essential part of an open, democratic government and responsive public services” and FoISA “will be adjusted where it is necessary and sensible to do so.” (See http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/FOI/6principles ) Consistently the Scottish Government has assured people of its good intentions, its willingness to act and to listen. For example, Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister, said during the 5 December Stage 2 Debate “Even though I am asking the committee to reject amendments this morning—including amendment 8— for specific reasons, I will continue to consider the scope for introducing amendments at stage 3 that try to encapsulate the views of the campaign and the committee where that is possible.” ( See http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28862.aspx?r=7581&mode=pdf ) Clearly it has not been possible for the Scottish Government to accept the detailed arguments made by CFoIS and UNISON. The CFoIS will be sending out a detailed briefing to MSPs before the debate. I do hope you can stand up for FOI and vote accordingly. Yours sincerely,
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Please only send one email for yourself to each of the MSPs who represent you.
This is not a spam email. We wish to let elected representatives know of genuine concerns felt constituents.

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Page updated: 11 January 2013