The Home Secretary has laid out a clause that could help to amend the Freedom of Information Act to include the Police Federation. 

Theresa May said the government would not have time to make the police body subject to the legislation before the General Election.

But instead the Conservative MP has produced an example of how the law could be amended by another government to bring the organisation under the law.

This comes after she said the Federation would be reformed and included under the scope of the FOI Act.

In a speech in May 2014 May said that the Police Federation needs to be more accountable to the public.

At the time she said: “In particular, I know that some of you will find the Freedom of Information Act an unwelcome intrusion.

“But the Police Federation is an organisation created by statute, it serves a public function and the Normington Review demonstrated very clearly that it is an organisation in need of greater transparency and accountability.”

But yesterday she said the FOI change that she planned would not be introduced by her government.

“Last year I also set out my intention to bring forward proposals to extend the Freedom of Information Act to cover the Police Federation. This would require a change in primary legislation,” she said.

“In the absence of a suitable opportunity in this Parliament, I am today publishing a draft clause that demonstrates how that change could be made in legislation, with the intention this would be fulfilled in the next Parliament. I will place a copy of the draft in the House Library.”

The full clause says:

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.