Gutierrez warns of tough times ahead for ICO
The recently departed Information Commissioner feared that her successor will have to downsize the office because of budget constraints.
Gitanjali Gutierrez, who stepped down in February after ten years in the post, made her remarks in the Information Commissioner’s Office 2024 annual report.
That document was tabled in the House of Assembly last Friday.
In her opening comments, Ms Gutierrez said: “Organisationally, the ICO has, in past years, managed to support the Information Commissioner’s mandate despite a lack of adequate funding.
“For some years, this was accomplished through maintaining vacant posts; in other years, the ICO benefited from a legal cost award that supplemented the funds allocated by the legislature in the consolidated fund for the ICO’s budget.
“This year, however, the ICO found itself returning to low staffing levels and a lack of sufficient funding to maintain its current infrastructure, despite requests to the Government to maintain the office’s current infrastructure.
“As a result, the incoming Information Commissioner will face difficult decisions on what adjustments are needed, in essence to downsize the ICO.”
The report said that the ICO has a staff of six when, in order to be at full strength, it should have a team of eight.
It showed that one investigation officer post and an administrative assistant position were vacant.
Figures provided by David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, last night suggested that approved allocations for the ICO increased from $957,000 in 2019-20 to $1.117 million in 2024-25.
Ms Gutierrez also took the opportunity in the report, titled From Transparency to Accountability, to once again criticise a decision by the Government to introduce fees for public access to information requests.
She said: “Other changes brought new, unexpected challenges to safeguarding the right to public access in Bermuda, including amendments to the Pati Act and other legislation that risk creating unnecessary barriers to the public’s right to know.”
Ms Gutierrez’s successor to the role was lawyer Jason Outerbridge, who took up the post on March 1.
In a statement yesterday, the organisation said: “The ICO is focused on continuity and change under the leadership and direction of the current Information Commissioner.
“The ICO is assured that the current administration finds value in the work that we deliver as we fulfil our statutory mandate.
“We understand the fiscally challenging environment that all public authorities operate under, and we await a fair Budget to be passed by the legislature in due course.”
Mr Burt said that the approved budget for the Information Commissioner increased by 17 per cent from 2019-20 to 2024-25, compared with an overall budget increase for the Government of 7 per cent in the same period.
He added: “It would be incorrect to infer that the Government has not properly funded the ICO.
“Every government department desires more funding, but this government is committed to returning stability to Bermuda’s public finances, and that means that all departments/offices, including the Information Commissioner, must live within our means.
“ICO approved budgets have been increased every year, save for the 2021-22 pandemic budget.”
Mr Burt said that the ICO overspent its allocation in 2023-24.
He added: “Financial accountability cannot just be for the Progressive Labour Party government, but for all parts of the Government who spend taxpayer funds.”
The One Bermuda Alliance claimed yesterday that funding concerns raised by Ms Gutierrez revealed what the Government’s priorities were.
Douglas De Couto, the Shadow Minister of Finance, said: “Governments in general, but this government in particular, are known for making many grand promises.
“But the best way to determine the Government’s true intentions and priorities is to observe its actions and how it allocates and spends money.
“While the recent revised Throne Speech used words like fairness and accountability, and spoke of increasing the openness and accessibility of government information, the Government’s actions have been at odds with their words.
“For example, as highlighted by the recent ICO report, the Government has consistently underfunded the ICO, and passed laws to create barriers to the public for government information, rather than supporting the ICO as an important component of providing more transparency to the public.
“In addition, recent spending on new GP cars [$500,000] and the rush to increase legislators’ pay, including, in the absence of wording in the motion to say otherwise, retroactive back pay for those who retired or lost elections, show what’s really important to this government.
“With the upcoming Budget, this government has the opportunity to put its money where its mouth is on topics like collaboration, openness. We will see if they mean more than just talk.”
A Cabinet Office spokeswoman responded: “The report of the Information Commissioner refers to the legislation as ‘resilient’ and having ‘grown in strength to challenge the legacy of secrecy’.
“The statistics indicate that Bermudians have confidence in the ICO processes and use them to access key information to which taxpayers are entitled.
“Lastly and for clarity, there’s no retroactive back pay for those representatives who retired or lost elections.”
She added that to say so was “categorically false”.
A former premier who was instrumental in the creation of the ICO, also offered remarks.
Alex Scott, who was the Premier between 2003 and 2006 said: “I’m disappointed that the ICO hasn’t received the funding that it requires to be an efficient agency because it’s an important agency.
“No one gets all the money they ask for but public access to information is so important to the community — I think it’s a key part of democracy to have a full-blooded sharing of information between governments and the public.”
He added that "governments are drawn closer to the public if they engage in providing information as much as possible“.
• To read the Information Commissioner’s Office annual report in full, see Related Media
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