Human Rights for Public Service Users
A report from the House of
Commons Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) on 9 July 2008 has questioned
the level of human rights afforded to users of public services which have been contracted-out
to private and third sector organisations by Government.
With the changing trend towards contracting out services
to the third sector, the July report discusses whether third sector providers are, or indeed should be brought, under the same obligations as Governmental organisations
to provide service users with protection under the Human Rights Act and rights under
Freedom of Information legislation.
As Committee chairman, Tony Wright, states "the principle must be right that public
services are provided by whoever will deliver the best outcomes for service users.
Sometimes, that will be an organisation from the third sector”. With this in mind
the report stresses the need to consider whether Human Rights and Freedom of Information
legislation needs to be extended to specifically cover voluntary organisations such
as charities and social enterprises.
In 2002 it was held in the landmark case of Leonard Cheshire and recently reaffirmed
in the case of YL v Birmingham that voluntary sector care homes are not considered
public authorities under the Human Rights Act and therefore do not have human rights
obligations to users. However, the cross party
committee have suggested that no
matter the identity of the service provider, all public service users should have
the same rights to information, and all contractors and service providers should
be subject to the same obligations.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has already announced that there is to be consultation
on bringing all contractors within Freedom of Information legislation. These proposals
are likely to be controversial because they will involve additional compliance costs
for third sector providers in additional consultation procedures before implementing
change and in responding to Freedom of Information requests.
A spokesman for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) reiterated
this point stating: "The Human Rights Act provides vital protection to vulnerable
users of public services. That protection should not depend on whether the service
is provided by a public, private or voluntary sector organisation.” However, his view on extending the Freedom of Information legislation to specifically cover third
sector providers was that this would be an unnecessary step as “it is already the
case” that there are sufficient provisions in place for any member of the public
to make a request for information from any public body, commissioners and regulators.
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For More Information Contact:
Pav Jawanda
The Projects Partnership Limited
53 Great Suffolk Street
London SE1 ODB
t 020 7620 0888
f 020 7620 0778
e info@tpplaw.co.uk
Email:
Pav
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