SIR – What has the Government got to hide?
The Conservative-led Government has decided to veto a freedom of information (FOI) request to publish the risk register of potential problems that may arise from the forced introduction of the ill-fated NHS Health and Social Care Bill.
The Health and Social Care Bill is an enabling act that will effectively allow our much-loved NHS to be privatised.
FOI requests can and should be declined in exceptional circumstances.
A good example to warrant an FOI refusal would be the exact operational plans of troops in a war setting.
However, without this type of rare exceptional circumstances the policy has always been a presumption to publish to increase transparency.
On Tuesday we learned that Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, has said that the Government’s refusal to publish the risk register is not a justified exceptional circumstance and that the Government’s veto is not in the public interest.
The veto of the FOI request to publish the NHS risk register goes against the pledges David Cameron made in 2010 for transparency. He said: “I think transparency can help us to rebuild trust in our politics.
“One of the reasons people don’t trust politicians is because they think we’ve always got something to hide.
“Well, by the time we’ve finished, there will be far fewer hiding places... In time, I want our Government to be one of the most open and transparent in the world.”
The Green Party and others who want to defend the NHS will not give up fighting to get the risk register published.
What is the Government trying to hide from us?
LOUIS STEPHEN
Worcester Green Party
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