Sunday, July 11, 2021
Legal action to get more transparency in government
The Mirror reports that the Government faces legal action over claims ministers used private email and WhatsApp accounts to conduct official business.
They say the Good Law Project (GLP) is launching a judicial review bid over the practice, which they say is "unlawful":
The public interest group said that current rules governing the use of private communications for government business are not fit for purpose.
And they said it "seems unlikely the policy is being followed."
If successful, they aim to "force Government to put in place proper policies to close this accountability gap for good."
It comes after the UK's data watchdog launched a probe into claims former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Health Minister Lord Bethell routinely used private email accounts at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when lucrative contracts were being dished out to private firms.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: "“It concerns the public to feel there may be a loss of transparency about decisions affecting them and their loved ones.
"And as the regulator of data protection and freedom of information laws, it concerns me.”
The notes from a meeting from December 2020, obtained by the Sunday Times, even claimed Mr Hancock “does not have a DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] inbox”.
Mr Hancock’s pal Lord Bethell, who donated £5,000 to his leadership bid in 2019 and was then made a health minister nine months later, also “routinely uses his personal inbox”, the minutes claimed.
Separately, Lord Bethell faces a House of Lords Standards Commissioner investigation into his sponsorship of a Parliament pass for Gina Coladangelo, the aide Mr Hancock was pictured in a clinch with.
“We don’t just think this situation is wrong, we believe it’s unlawful,” GLP said in a statement.
“It flies in the face of government’s legal obligations to preserve official records.”
This government has done everything it can to avoid accountability and transparency. Let's hope this court action starts to turn that trend around.
They say the Good Law Project (GLP) is launching a judicial review bid over the practice, which they say is "unlawful":
The public interest group said that current rules governing the use of private communications for government business are not fit for purpose.
And they said it "seems unlikely the policy is being followed."
If successful, they aim to "force Government to put in place proper policies to close this accountability gap for good."
It comes after the UK's data watchdog launched a probe into claims former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Health Minister Lord Bethell routinely used private email accounts at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when lucrative contracts were being dished out to private firms.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: "“It concerns the public to feel there may be a loss of transparency about decisions affecting them and their loved ones.
"And as the regulator of data protection and freedom of information laws, it concerns me.”
The notes from a meeting from December 2020, obtained by the Sunday Times, even claimed Mr Hancock “does not have a DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] inbox”.
Mr Hancock’s pal Lord Bethell, who donated £5,000 to his leadership bid in 2019 and was then made a health minister nine months later, also “routinely uses his personal inbox”, the minutes claimed.
Separately, Lord Bethell faces a House of Lords Standards Commissioner investigation into his sponsorship of a Parliament pass for Gina Coladangelo, the aide Mr Hancock was pictured in a clinch with.
“We don’t just think this situation is wrong, we believe it’s unlawful,” GLP said in a statement.
“It flies in the face of government’s legal obligations to preserve official records.”
This government has done everything it can to avoid accountability and transparency. Let's hope this court action starts to turn that trend around.
