Scrutiny proposing to toughen up FOI code

A move to toughen up Guernsey's freedom of information (FOI) code will be launched by the States Scrutiny Management Committee.

Scrutiny President Andy Sloan told the States, in an update to deputies, that the current FOI appeals body lacked the power to enforce the decisions it made.

He said his committee would be bringing forward plans for new legal powers to compel compliance to rulings by the FOI appeals panel.

However, he stopped short of saying he would propose a full FOI law like in the UK and Jersey, because of the cost that could incur, but said "emotionally" he was behind the idea.

Since Guernsey's States agreed to an FOI code in 2021 there has only been one successful appeal, after information was ruled to have been withheld by the Committee for Home Affairs.

In his update from the Scrutiny Management Committee, Deputy Sloan criticised government culture, which he suggested was "too often defaulted to protecting institutions rather than the public".

He was also critical of the lack of up to date government stats on GDP and the island's population, which in his view "materially weakened policymaking."

Sloan signalled an intention to review how taxpayer money is spent on arms length bodies, but when pressed by Policy and Resources member Steve Falla he did not reveal which bodies they were.

Last year scrutiny launched a review of the States Property Unit, which saw officials face a public hearing.

Following that, scrutiny asked the unit a number of written questions and Sloan said he had been promised answers by 20 February.

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