If the Conservative-led government gets its way on public sector reform, it's clear that more and more private companies will be brought in to run public services.

So in the interests of transparency and accountability, it therefore seems reasonable to expect that these companies will operate under just the same controls and safeguards as those that exist for the public sector.

In my speech to the Green Party's spring conference today, I called for Freedom Of Information (FOI) legislation to be extended to large corporations, particularly those providing key services to the public.

Banks, telecomms firms, water companies, train and bus companies - we depend on these corporations to deliver our services. When they fail, we all suffer. Right now, they can hide behind the excuse of commercial confidentiality. But if they are to take on ever more responsibility for public service delivery, then it follows that they must be opened up to proper public scrutiny.

Under the proposal, the Information Commissioner would be empowered to determine classes of information that companies would have to publish, such as risk registers, payment to sub contractors, or tax payments made overseas.

This would be quicker and more flexible than the current situation, where extra disclosure requirements on businesses have to be enacted by parliament in primary legislation – which can take years.

The public would not make requests directly to companies, as with FOI for government, to avoid creating an administrative burden for businesses. Instead, members of the public could make requests to the Information Commissioner to add to the classes of info that major companies must release.
 
This would help the public see the impact – for good or bad – which companies have on our economy and society: anything from their employment policies to cases of charging excess profits from their poorest customers. Well run companies would have a good story to tell; badly performing ones would be shamed into mending their ways. 

Imagine if we'd had FOI covering the banks in the run up to the financial crash: the right to ask for information, for example, about new financial instruments or lending policies. The irresponsible policies of the banks and financial institutions might have been exposed before the crisis hit. 

Extending FOI would mean giving the public, academics, think tanks, the media and campaigning groups the right to scrutinise powerful corporations and so improve the way they serve their customers and society as a whole. No company – or government – should be afraid of such a necessary move.

Tags: Caroline Lucas, Green party