REVIEWS
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1987.tb00677.x |
| Date | 01 December 1987 |
| Published date | 01 December 1987 |
REVIEWS
OPEN GOVERNMENT: A STUDY
OF
THE PROSPECTS
OF
OPEN GOVERNMENT WITHIN THE LIMITATIONS
OF
THE
BRITISH POLITICAL SYSTEM
Richard A. Chapman and Michael Hunt (eds.)
Croom
Helm,
1987. 194pp.
a5.00.
This book consists of revised versions of papers which were originally presented to a
research workshop on open government held
in
April
1986
at Leicester University, organized
under the auspices of the Public Administration Committee of the Joint University Council.
It is not another polemic on the subject, but rather an attempt to explore some of the
practical implications of moves towards a more open style of government in Britain.
The different chapters reveal some of the disagreements about the extent
of
public access
to official information that might be regarded as possible
or
desirable. Sir Patrick Nairne,
for instance, looks forward to a Freedom
of
Information (FoI) Act (but does not expect
it to lead to ‘any substantial change in the government’s handling of policy formulation’
(p.
47)).
But Rosamund Thomas argues that the principles underlying the Official Secrets
Act are sound, though certain aspects
of
the existing law should be tidied up or clarified;
she offers the government and the courts some tips to help ensure that the next Clive Ponting
is not acquitted (p.
114).
The authors rightly do not seek to explain government secrecy
in terms of nefarious Whitehall conspiracies or cowardly politicians, but instead show
how interrelated constitutional, political and administrative factors sustain Britain’s ’closed
policy-making system and make major reform difficult.
The most trenchant contribution is Sir Patrick Nairne‘s discussion of the pressures for
secretiveness imposed by the political environment of government (chapter
3).
The conven-
tion
of
ministerial responsibility, a cornerstone of the British constitution, means that the
policy work of ministers and officials is conditioned by the requirements of accountability
to Parliament in a politically-charged atmosphere
of
party confrontation. Control over
the balance between the secrecy and disclosure of information confers important tactical
advantages to a government facing a critical Opposition. Ministers naturally prefer to
avoid disclosing policy proposals which they are contemplating until they have thoroughly
prepared their case. As Nairne puts it, ‘if the Government is to avoid slipping on banana
skins, it needs to search carefully for bananas, or for those who may throw their skins
on the ground, before going public on policy’ (p.
43).
He emphasizes that a FoI Act would
not, and should not, remove the veil
of
secrecy which must protect the process of policy
discussion and decision-taking within government.
The evidence marshalled by Rosamund Thomas in her valuable survey of the experience
of open government
in
other countries indicates that there is no simple answer to the
question of how much genuine openness a FoI statute might provide. The main users of
open government laws appear to be business corporations, lobby groups and individuals
seekmg
access to personal information.
In
the different countries she studies, Thomas found
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