Dear All

Apologies for cross posting.

The Justice 1 Committee published its Stage 1 Report on the general principles of the FoI Bill on Friday. 

The Committee press release is available here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/whats_happening/news-02/cj102-001.htm

The full report is available here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/official_report/cttee/just1-02/j1r02-01-01.htm

The main recommendations which may be of interest to the profession are:

• a purpose clause is deemed to be unnecessary
• public authorities will have 20 days to comply with requests for information
• applicant will have 40 days to apply for a review
• public authorities will have 40 days to respond to a request for review
• the Information Commissioner will have the power to revise the Codes of Practice
• Draft Codes of Practice will be made available for Stage 2 scrutiny
• the provisions of the Act should be fully implemented within a maximum of two years following Royal Assent
• each public authority should be encouraged to appoint a designated FoI Officer

As the report is very long I have attached a summary of the Committee's recommendations as a Rich Text File to this message which I hope is helpful.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes

Carolynn

<<Stage 1 Report Recommendations.rtf>>

Carolynn Bain                                   Tel: 0131 243 9524
Council and Archives Manager     Fax: 0131 243 9599
The National Trust for Scotland          Email: [log in to unmask]
Wemyss House                                    URL: http://www.nts.org.uk                           
28 Charlotte Square                   
Edinburgh EH2 4ET