Freedom of Information (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013

1 Designation of authorities

(1) In section 5 (further power to designate Scottish public authorities) of the FOI Act, for subsection (5) there is substituted—

“(5) Before making an order under subsection (1), the Scottish Ministers must—

(a) consult—

(i) every person to whom the order relates, or

(ii) persons appearing to them to represent such persons, and

(b) also consult such other persons as they consider appropriate.”.

(2) After section 7 of the FOI Act there is inserted—

“7A Reports on section 5 power

(1) In accordance with this section, the Scottish Ministers must lay before the Parliament reports about the exercise of the section 5 power.

(2) The first report is to be laid on or before 31 October 2015.

(3) Each subsequent report is to be laid no later than 2 years after the date on which the previous report is laid.

(4) A report must—

(a) state whether the section 5 power has been exercised during the reporting period, and

(b) as the case may be—

(i) explain how the power has been exercised during the reporting period (and why), or

(ii) give the reason for leaving the power unexercised during the reporting period.

(5) A report may—

(a) summarise any response to a consultation carried out during the reporting period as regards the exercise of the section 5 power,

(b) indicate any intention to exercise the power in the future,

(c) include such additional information as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

(6) In this section—

• “reporting period” means—

  (a)

  in the case of the first report, period of time from the date on which section 1 of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2013 comes into force until the date on which the first report is laid,

  (b)

  in the case of a subsequent report, period of time from the date on which the previous report is laid until the date on which the subsequent report is laid,

• “section 5 power” means order-making power conferred by section 5(1).”.