CART will be subject to Freedom of Information Act
BRITISH Waterways successor, the Canal & River Trust will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The government's conclusion from its recent supplementary consultation is that Canal & River Trust will be subject to the Act for the statutory functions and duties it inherits from British Waterways.
Lobbied by trustees
Government has taken this decision, despite being lobbied by the trustees (with the very noticeable support of the Inland Waterways Association) to make the charity exempt from the Act. In a dramatic U-turn, Canal & River Trust and British Waterways chairman, Tony Hales, now says the trustees welcome government's decision:
'The Trustees support the Government's conclusions including those relating to the Freedom of Information Act. We are committed to ensuring that the new Trust operates to the highest standards for openness and transparency in its new status'.
Ignoring the U-turn for the moment and concentrating on commitment to openness and transparency, why do the transition trustees not pro-actively publish minutes of their meetings? Even British Waterways has a policy for publishing board papers.
Canal & River Trust Minutes
A Freedom of Information Act request raised on 2nd September noted that no policy existed for proactively publishing minutes of meetings of the transition trustees who were appointed over three months previously. It asked that minutes be provided and placed in the public domain.
It took three reminders before receipt was even acknowledged.
Finally, on the 26th September, British Waterways acknowledged receipt saying:
'We will now review the information that we hold relating to your request and a response will be sent as soon as possible but in any case within 20 working days of the receipt of your request on 2nd September 2011'.
20 working days
By law those subject to the Freedom of Information Act must respond within 20 working days. British Waterways did not do this and, as such, on the 1st October they were asked to conduct an internal review to determine the reason for failure to provide the information requested.
The review was not carried out which resulted in a complaint to the information commissioner. The information commissioner decided to handle the matter informally, and asked British Waterways to carry out the review and to provide the information requested. British Waterways failed to do either so a second complaint was made asking the the information commissioner to issue a 'decision notice' which is enforceable by law.
Well over three months after it was requested, minutes of Canal & River Trust trustee meetings have still not been provided!
Openness and transparency
Tony Hales says the Canal & River Trust will operate to the highest standards for openness and transparency. It is very obvious that is not happening now, and the possibility of it happening in the future is almost non-existent with him at the helm. What could be a better demonstration of openness and transparency for Canal & River Trust than publishing minutes of meetings?
Those that voted in the recent narrowboatworld poll made it abundantly clear that Tony Hales should not remain in office when British Waterways becomes Canal & River Trust.
Why wait until next April?