MSA Newslink November 2021

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The peril of an FOI... where’s the cash gone?
Rob Beswick
In 2000, the new Labour government of
Tony Blair made good on one of its
manifesto policies by introducing the
Freedom of Information Act (FOI). It gave
any member of the public – and those
dastardly members of the Fourth Estate
(that’s journalists, just in case you are not
familiar with the phrase) – the right to ask
government departments any questions
they wished, and if the information
existed and could be released, they had to
tell you what you wanted to know.
The good news was that it was legally
enforceable and kept departments on
their toes. No longer could people hide
facts and figures from the public. Good.
But the civil service is a perfidious
beast when it wants to be, and the Sir
Humphreys of Whitehall were quick to
find ways around FOI. Always keeping
within the rules, but never giving you too
much information.
Which brings us to a recent FOI.
Newslink readers may recall that in the
September issue, we published a review
of the DVSA’s accounts for the previous
year. It highlighted the damage done to
the balance sheet by Covid-19 and gave
us an idea of the DVSA’s cashflow.
One short paragraph caught our
attention, however. Buried deep within
the Annual Report 2020-2021, on page
40, the copy says: ‘During the year one
special payment over £300,000 (2019-
20: nil) was made. The payment of
£1,892,500 was for an agreed out of
court settlement of legal costs following a
failed prosecution led by DVSA.
‘A provision was made for this in the
2019-20 accounts but not
reported within losses and special
payments as it was uncertain how much
would be payable at that time.’
My FOI was simple: what did this refer
to? That’s a lot of money to wipe off... so I
asked the DVSA: ‘I would like the details
on this case, please, including why the
case was brought, and by whom, and
why DVSA settled out of court
following the failed prosecution.’
The response sort-of answered the
question. The DVSA replied: ‘This
payment relates to a settlement for a
failed prosecution involving multiple
government departments. The payment
was across a number of defendants,
relating to a single case. The case was
brought, by DVSA, because we had
evidence of criminal wrongdoing and it
passed the Public Interest Test.
‘We settled out of court as we were able
to negotiate a lower settlement than going
to court to pay the costs of the five
defendants.’
Er, anyone else think they didn’t
answer my question? I wanted to know
what the case involved, ie, what were the
charges brought, and by whom (ie, which
government departments). I also wanted
to know why it failed.
So I am still none the wiser, but you’ll
be glad to know I’ve submitted an appeal
to the FOI response. I think it is important
MSA GB members, and the wider ADI
community, know why the agency
appears to have thrown away nearly two
million pounds of your cash, particularly
at a time when government finances are
under so much pressure.
I’ll keep you informed...
NEWSLINK n NOVEMBER 2021
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