More disclosure examples from Scotland the brave

Scotland already has some impressive pro-active disclosure requirements that our access to government policy makers should aspire to, for example a surgeon's track record and the register of MP's interests.But it isn't stopping there.

Minister for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford in releasing a discussion paper on extending the Freedom of Information Act to some private sector bodies, announced that, as part of the Government's drive towards greater transparency in government, Ministerial travel and diary information would be published on the Scottish Government website from today. He said:

"We believe that the people of Scotland have the right to more information about how Ministers spend their working days. That is why we have improved the way in which information is recorded and why we have decided to make that information freely available, the first administration in the UK to do so."

The only government here that appears to be well-advanced on the pro-active disclosure front is Queensland, and the NSW Premier has asked ministers to look into this.The list of what should be available automatically is formidable, and growing in the light of best practice standards set by the Scots and others.