Contract extensions
What do academy schools have in common with security firms working for the British government in Iraq?
They are private bodies receiving public money to provide a service - and the Campaign for Freedom of Information argues that they should be made subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
In fact, they are just two of the sorts of private organisations which the Campaign wants to come under FOI. Others include those contracted by the public sector to provide NHS treatment, private care homes, prisons, or public transport, as well as bodies like the Press Complaints Commission and the British Standards Institute.
Not surprisingly this is not a popular suggestion with many of those who would be affected, such as charities who belong to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, which is worried about the resulting administrative burden.
The CFoI report is a somewhat late response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on the question of extending FOI.
What will the government decide? I think we can say one thing for certain - it is much more likely to extend FOI to academies than to private security firms operating in Iraq.
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I assume you believe that the BBC should be fully transparent. What about Alan Yentob's expenses? What about the Balen report? After all the BBC is financed by the public through a regressive tax. Do we not have a right to know the same amount of detail about BBC senior executives many of whom consider themselves, and not without justification, more powerful than Ministers never mind MPs?
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