Census - write to your MSPs

SACC believes that there is still time for the Scottish Government to cancel the contract with CACI. The census would then have to be postponed until alternative arrangements can be made. This would be a radical step, but the situation is now very serious.

Let your MSPs and Councillors know about your concerns over the census. Please use your own words; don't just cut and paste from this page.

You can contact your MSPs and Councillors using www.writetothem.com

Please include some or all of the following points:

• Earlier statements by the General Register Office of Scotland (GROS) suggesting that the allegations against CACI are "unsubstantiated" are wrong. Evidence on Abu Ghraib and CACI's involvement with it is voluminous.
• CACI's involvement with Abu Ghraib is undisputed. Detention conditions and procedures at Abu Ghraib did not meet acceptable international standards.
• A statement by GROS in 2008 that civil cases brought against CACI in the US by former Abu Ghraib prisoners "have not proceeded" was wrong. One case is currently before the US Supreme Court. Another is before a US Federal Appeals Court.
• CACI is trying to block the lawsuits against it on the grounds that it is "immune" as a US Government contractor. It has not so far contested the substance of the charges against it in court. The allegations are very serious and include torture with electric shocks, beating, forced nakedness, forced participation in physical activities to the point of exhaustion, sensory deprivation, deprivation of food, deprivation of oxygen and torture with extremely hot and cold water.
• EU Procurement rules set out in Directive 2004/18/EC give contracting authorities discretion to exclude a contractor that "has been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authorities can demonstrate." The Scottish Government chose not to use this discretionary power to exclude CACI.
• CACI had sight of GROS's responses to Freedom of Information Requests. This suggests the possibility that CACI may have been responsible for some of the inaccurate views apparently held by GROS. In that case, the Scottish Government should seek compensation from CACI for costs arising out of cancelling the contract.
• GROS appears to have been negligent in its investigation of the background to CACI's involvement in Abu Ghraib. In response to a FOI request it said that it carried out a web search that provided information about the "allegations" against CACI, but that it considered that no further investigation was necessary.
• CACI's involvement in the census threatens the right to privacy of people in Scotland. Any personal data held by CACI International (the US-based parent of the company carrying out census work) would be available to the US Government under the Patriot Act. The Scottish Government says that the contract with CACI UK prevents this happening. But there is no information available to establish that the safeguards are watertight.

For Councillors

• In view of all the points above, councils should not be helping to promote the census.

You will find more background at www.sacc.org.uk/censusinfo