Views sought on extending Freedom of Information provisions.
Private and third sector providers of care home and ‘care at
home' services may be made subject to Freedom of Information
laws.
Following the Covid pandemic, ministers agreed to look at
extending provisions in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (FOISA) to cover care services. The Act enables the Scottish
Government to extend Freedom of Information rules to cover
organisations delivering ‘functions of a public nature'.
A consultation will seek views on whether providers of care
homes and ‘care at home' fall under that definition and if so,
whether and how the Government should exercise its power to
extend FOISA to cover them.
It will also cover other issues, including whether services
should only be covered if they receive public funding, whether
services for children and young people should be included and how
a change in the rules might affect organisations of different
sizes.
Minister for Parliamentary Business said:
“Care home and ‘care at home' services are of the utmost
importance to people, including some of our most vulnerable
citizens.
“There is a good argument that these services can be considered
to be public functions, and that statutory FOI obligations should
therefore be extended to private and third sector providers in
this area. Doing so would put the same obligations on those
providers to be open and transparent that we already place on
public sector providers of similar services, such as local
councils.
“We will therefore publish a public consultation to gather the
views of people who rely on these services for the care of
themselves, their friends and family and the wider community. We
also want to hear the views of people who work in and with the
sector, and from provider organisations.
“This government recognises the significant pressures that the
social care sector is facing and to be effective, any future roll
out of Freedom of Information will need to take place in
partnership with the sector, taking this into account. Therefore
I hope as many people as possible will engage with this
consultation.”
Background:
The consultation will open on January 5th 2026 and
close on March 30th 2026.
GIQ - consultation on care
homes
A Consultation Advisory Group made up of representatives of the
care sector, unions and people with direct experience of care
services has been working with the Government since February this
year to help shape the approach to the consultation.
Since 2013 the Scottish government has extended FOI rights in a
number of areas not originally covered by the legislation.
In 2019 the law was extended to Registered Social Landlords in
recognition of the important services they deliver, and the
impact of these services on people's lives.
