All large bureaucracies tend to be regarded as remote, and it is difficult for them to establish a close relationship with their customers. The big banks and insurance companies are also perceived as being relatively distant from their customers. What distinguishes the British government from its Western counterparts is its excessive secrecy. But here again this is not something which is peculiar to government in Britain. Des Wilson gave examples at the Manchester Convention of his accountant and his hospital doctor both refusing to allow him to see his own file.
Secrecy is truly the British disease.
But in tackling the disease it is right that we should start at the top, with the agencies of central government. For that we need a Freedom of Information Act. It is depressing to find that the Government still maintains that freedom of information is somehow incompatible with a Westminster system of ministerial accountability to Parliament. The experience of the freedom of information legislation in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, ten years old this year, is that freedom of information can work well in countries with a constitution on the Westminster model. Ministerial accountability is not undermined but enhanced by legislation which enables MPs and others to get more background information about govemment decisions.