FOI Fest skills session #2: Q&A

In the final session of the day, Carole Ewart, Director at the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFOIS) gave a five-minute rundown of the state of FOI as they are experiencing it. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen! Transcript 0:00 [Gavin Freeguard]: Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:04 [Carole Ewart]: It’s good to talk to you all today. I’m conscious that people will want to get to the pub, so I have five minutes to be short and snappy. 0:12 My lightning talk is in three parts. First of all, the work that the Campaign For Freedom of Information does with requesters, obviously, because we’ve got small resources, that’s not a huge proportion. As a campaigning organisation, we use FOI, of course, but also as a strategic operator in public policy. (more…)

Do FOI requests made on WhatDoTheyKnow get better results than those made directly? Can you make an FOI request via social media? These and other great questions from the audience were answered by Maurice Frankel of the Campaign for FOI; journalist and FOI expert Martin Rosenbaum; and mySociety’s Gareth Rees & Julia Cushion at FOI Fest. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen! Transcript 0:00 [Gavin Freeguard]: Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! Let’s start with one online, which is to you, Martin, which is, do you make requests publicly on WhatDoTheyKnow, or mostly private? 0:15 [Martin Rosenbaum]: So I always make my requests privately rather than use WhatDoTheyKnow, because I like to have my own complete personal control over the process. 0:26 I have to say, I do think WhatDoTheyKnow is a wonderful thing. It’s a great resource. I look at it all the time, and it’s very, very useful from the point of view of seeing what requests have been answered already. (more…)

mySociety’s own Julia Cushion and Gareth Rees talk us through the basic principles of our FOI website WhatDoTheyKnow, and the open codebase that allows others to run similar websites around the world, Alaveteli – all in ten minutes. If you would prefer to watch this session as a video, you can do so here. Sign up for our newsletter or drop us a line. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen!   Transcript 0:00 [Gavin Freeguard:] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:04 [Julia Cushion:] We are from mySociety, makers of WhatDoTheyKnow, but actually wanted to start us today thinking about the code that is behind WhatDoTheyKnow, which we call Alaveteli, and reminding everybody that that is an open source codebase, which means that anybody around the world can run their own Freedom of Information website, and lots of people do. (more…)

In this ten minute skills session from FOI Fest, longtime journalist and author of Freedom of Information: A Practical Guidebook Martin Rosenbaum shares his best tips based on usage of the Act that goes back to its implementation. Martin mentions some of his slides during this talk, and if you’d rather watch than listen, you can do so on YouTube. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen! Transcript 0:00 [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:04 [Martin Rosenbaum] Thanks very much. We’ve had a fair amount of advice already about to make effective use of FOI. And what I thought I would do with my two minutes here, as someone who, since the Act came into force in 2005 has made quite a lot of FOI requests, is just give some examples of things that I learnt along the way from particular cases that I was involved in, some which go back more or less, in fact, to 2005 some which are lessons which I learnt quite early on, like perhaps this one. (more…)

In this ten-minute session from FOI Fest, Chief Executive of the Campaign for Freedom of Information Maurice Frankel explains how to avoid having your requests refused because of the cost limit that is baked into the FOI Act, and what some of the problems with that limit are. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen! Transcript 0:00  [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:04  [Maurice Frankel] My first thing to say is not specifically on my topic, but it’s this: if you don’t know anything about the subject, don’t make an FOI request.  0:14  FOI is not the place to start learning about something that you don’t know anything about. If an idea pops into your head, do some research about it. (more…)

In this panel discussion from FOI Fest, participants discussed the challenges and opportunities for Freedom of Information, including how AI is increasingly a problem – but could also be a solution – for authorities. You’ll hear from: Louise Crow, Chief Executive, mySociety Ben Worthy, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Birkbeck College Carole Ewart, Director, Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland David Hamilton, Scottish Information Commissioner Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about why and how you listen! Transcript 0:00  [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:06  [Alex Parsons] So, to split this into two sets of questions. One is around the FOI reform in Scotland, and the other is this ongoing conversation of the day around technology and AI. (more…)

In the second keynote from FOI Fest, David Hamilton, the Scottish Information Commissioner, explained current challenges, including the arrival of the AI-based request, increased levels of anger on both sides, and what it means when FOI is front page news every three days. He also goes through the forthcoming changes that the Reform Bill is set to bring to Freedom of Information in Scotland. David refers to his slides a few times during this recording. If you would prefer to watch this presentation as a video, head over to YouTube. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about our listeners! Transcript 0:00  [Gavin Freeguard:] Welcome to FOI Fest, 2026 0:04  [David Hamilton] I’m David Hamilton. I’m the Scottish Information Commissioner.  0:07  I don’t know. I always end up speaking at conferences on FOI in England after Scotland thump England at rugby. So having alienated most of the audience, let me carry on.  (more…)

Ben is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College, where FOI Fest 2026 took place. In this five-minute talk, Ben shared the innovative ways in which he has used Freedom of Information to understand more about Freedom of Information itself. FOI Fest was held on 19th February and was co-organised by the FOI Network. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about our listeners! Transcript: 0:00  [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:05  [Ben Worthy] Hi everybody. My name is Ben Worthy. I’m an academic here at Birkbeck College, and I’m very aware that only I stand between you and lunch, so I will be as quick as I can. (more…)

In a session from FOI Fest, the Times’ investigation reporter George Greenwood shared his top ten tips around using FOI, in just ten minutes. Enjoy! FOI Fest was held on 19th February and was co-organised by the FOI Network. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about our listeners!   Transcript 0:00  [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026. 0:04 [George Greenwood]  Hello everybody. My name is George Greenwood, and I’m investigations reporter at the Times newspaper, and put it mildly, an avid user of FOI for my reporting. 0:18  Today, it’s going to be a quick fire skill session, just ten tips in ten minutes, on how best campaigners, journalists, members of the public, even some other public authorities, can use FOI to the best of their ability and to get the most out of it.  (more…)

In this five-minute lightning talk, Andreas Pavlou, Lead at Open Government Partnership Independent Reporting Mechanism, shares positive advances in Access to Information in countries such as the Netherlands and Brazil. FOI Fest 2026 was held on 19th February and was co-organised by the FOI Network. Please fill in our short survey to help us understand more about our listeners! Transcript 0:00  Gavin Freeguard: Welcome to FOI Fest 2026! 0:04  Andreas Pavlou: Afternoon everyone. My name is Andreas Pavlou. I’m lead at the independent reporting mechanism of the Open Government Partnership, which is an international initiative that seeks to bring government and civil society reformers together to co-create commitments that seek to advance transparency, participation and accountability in government.  (more…)