Official communications between the Cayman Islands government, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Governor Duncan Taylor’s office are not releasable under the Freedom of Information Law, the information commissioner has ruled.
An open records request filed by this newspaper last year, which sought the release of some 20 budget-related communications between the governor, FCO economic advisor, former Overseas Territories Minister Henry Bellingham and then-Premier McKeeva Bush, has been denied on appeal by Information Commissioner Jennifer Dilbert.
“I find that the disclosure of the responsive records is not necessary to promote greater public understanding of the processes or decisions made by government with respect to the budget negotiations with the UK government, nor would disclosure provide reasons for decisions taken by government,” Mrs. Dilbert wrote in ICO ruling No. 28.
“Disclosure would also not reveal wrongdoing or maladministration in the budget process.”
Mrs. Dilbert said she also considered whether partial access to the requested budget records could have been granted, but considered it would not have been meaningful to do so in this case.
“However, I consider that disclosure of the responsive records would be likely to have a significant adverse effect on government’s ability to carry out free and frank discussions to the benefit of the Cayman Islands and disclosure would, therefore, not be in the public interest,” she wrote.
The 2012/13 budget process was perhaps the most contentious – and latest – nonelection year budget in Cayman’s recent history. Financial and time constraints forced the local government to propose a two-month interim spending plan while financial details were worked out.
During the process, portions of some of the communications requested by the Compass were read out by local government officials during public meetings or during meetings of the Legislative Assembly. However, the commissioner ruled that, in this case, the budget communications sought should be protected as they consisted of the “free and frank deliberations” on the government’s budget.
“Having balanced the public interest arguments in favour and against disclosure, I find that it is not in the public interest to disclose the responsive records,” Mrs. Dilbert concluded.
The request, made by the Caymanian Compass on 30 August to both the governor’s office and the Ministry of Finance, initially sought all budget communications between the local government, the governor’s office, then-UK Overseas Territories Minister Henry Bellingham and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office during protracted talks over the 2012/13 budget.
Following negotiations over the Freedom of Information Law request, the Compass and the governor’s office agreed to reduce the scope of the request to “main communications” – those on formal letterhead – between the premier, the financial secretary, Mr. Bellingham, Governor Taylor, foreign office Director Colin Roberts and the foreign office economic adviser. The date of the request was between 1 May and 30 August.
However, even after the Compass agreed to work with the governor’s office to whittle down the amount of information sought, the office denied access to the related records.
“For relations between the Cayman Islands government and the UK government to thrive, there needs to be a comfortable private space where the governments can discuss issues confidentially,” said the governor’s office response to the Compass open records request. “Disclosure of these records would break that confidence and would make it more difficult for the UK government to communicate candidly with the Cayman Islands government in the future.”
The governor’s office released the decision on 29 October. Office representative Tom Hines said there was consultation between both the Caymanian and UK governments, as well as the attorney general’s chambers and the government Freedom of Information Unit prior to the decision.
Caymanian Compass Editor Tammie Chisholm expressed surprise at the decision reached by the governor’s office, noting that such communications between the local government and the UK government had been released to the media in the past. In fact, she said, Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush had sometimes read sections of those communications in public meetings and in other public forums in recent months.
“We are asking for information about the budgeting process for the greater good of the country,” Mrs. Chisholm said. “What politicians, including those in the UK government, seem to forget is that the money we pay in the form of duty, stamp taxes and so forth is what comprises the budget.”
The Compass will not file a request for judicial review of Mrs. Dilbert’s decision, Mrs. Chisholm said.
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i find appalling to read the response from the ICO as well as the comments made from the Governors office suggesting that the Cayman community is not capable to comprehend nor appreciate the constructive dialog exchange between the FCO, the Governors office, and the Ministers of Cabinet of the Cayman Islands. As was expressed by the Caymanian Compass, this is a matter of national interest and one that should be openly shared with the Cayman population.
If there is material found in the exchanged between the FCO, the Governors office and the Cayman elected Government to be of a sensitive nature that may consider national security. Then discretion should be applied to redact select areas of such commentary. However, it is high time that the FCO and the Governors office cease to imply EVERY REQUEST made to the ICO/Governors office under the Freedom of Information Law to be a potential compromise of national security between the two states, irrespective of Cayman being a member of the British Commonwealth.
At some point, consideration of best business practice for the edification of the Cayman people must be shown by the FCO/Governors office. Not demonstrating transparency of the FCO/Governors office in your actions will certainly lend to the speculation of the FCO having ulterior motives in their dealings with the Cayman people and its future. My suggestion to the FCO is to lead your colonies by example!
Funny… so many on the side of the Governor and the Foreign Office, attacking the local government for not disclosing information… Now little do they know, that the Foreign Office has more to hide from us than our own government.
You can’t be so ignorant. We the people are the guinea pigs whilst the big politicians trample on us and hide their agendas.
Why hide?
Because they don’t want the public to know the TRUTH for themselves!
Odd decision when you contrast it with the recent appeal ruling on the Aina report, which is now heading for a costly judicial review in the Grand Court.
In the Aina report the only real participating public authority was the Governor’s Office, CIG were never directly implicated as they are in this so there was no real local involvement – in fact quite the opposite.
Are we seeing a subtle shift in FOI emphasis here?
The recent rash of arrests of govt. types for misappropriation of funds is a symptom of hiding information from citizens. There is absolutely no reason for withholding ANY info from the taxpayers.
The question in my mind is why the governor and the politicians do not want to be free and frank with the public about their budget talks. What do they say among themselves that they do not want the public to hear?