FOI Fest lightning talk: Carole Ewart, Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland
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.
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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.
0:34 I’m just going to have a few reflections on that, but first of all, I just want to be clear, that the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland is separate from the other campaign.
0:47 We used to be a Scottish committee, and in 2019 we were allowed to go on our own, and we are a Scottish charitable incorporated organisation. So I know it was referred to earlier as a UK campaign, but it’s just to be clear, it’s not.
1:02 I think it’s important to understand that one of the significant differences in Scotland is the fact that the upper tier tribunal does not operate in Scotland, unless, of course, it’s using the UK Act, and I do think that that ultimately changes practice and decisions throughout the system, because you can only appeal to the court of session on a point of law, and so you don’t have that postponing tactic, and I do think that’s that’s very healthy.
1:29 And in terms of the requesters that we work with, we’ve heard really sophisticated approaches to FOI being prompted by curious journalists or practitioners, quite often people that we deal with in living communities, it’s issues of local concern.
1:48 And we have noticed a difference in the last 21 years since FOISA has been operational, because at that time there were lots more local offices servicing things from council services to housing, and they have gradually closed down because of the digital first approach, so they are less accessible.
2:09 And of course, you only make an FOI request if it’s recordable, and people want to go into the local offices and just verbalise, ask for the information, and it’s amazing how it can be really beneficial because you go in and you speak very nicely to somebody and they enthusiastically give you the information you’re looking for there and then and you don’t actually have to wait a very long time.
2:31 And we also work with people who do decide because local offices are shut down, you do want to make an FOI request and they realise that they think both they believe it is very complex, and recently we did some work with a group of people who were really quite shocked that it was so simple, and they also were shocked that they got the information that they requested, because they actually started off from a point of view that we’re not going to get it, and that just confirms our suspicion about this public authority.
2:59 So one of the contributors said earlier that you don’t really make an FOI request unless you know something about the subject matter, and sometimes we work with requesters who actually know the answer, but what they want to do is have proof, because the information is not in the public domain.
3:17 And recently we’ve had a couple of examples whereby people are actually holding the document, they’ve requested the information, and they’ve been advised that it’s not held, they’re holding the document.
3:27 So what do they do then, do they expose a whistleblower, or what do they do? So that’s an interesting one to navigate.
3:37 One of the other issues that we find out with requesters is the FOI practitioners very often complain that people write very bad FOI requests, but we do point out that they’ve not had the same training that FOI practitioners have had, so you know, give them a break, please.
3:54 There is also the other side problem with FOI practitioners not actually knowing what they hold, and we’re very aware that they are dependent on colleagues knowing what they hold or being prepared to admit what they hold, and that’s one of the reasons why we are very supportive in terms of the Freedom of Information Reform Scotland Bill that FOI practitioners be put on a formal footing to give them authority within their organisation to require their colleagues to produce what they know, so it can be considered for disclosure in terms of a campaigning tool.
4:28 I said earlier that one of the issues we’re very concerned about is the fact that NGOs are reluctant to use FOI, and sometimes we have to make the FOI requests for some NGOs who do not want to spoil the relationship with the funding body, and because it seemed aggressive or confrontational.
4:45 And sometimes we have to frame the FOI request quite differently, because if we framed it because of what they know, the recipient authority would know that it was them that was asking.
4:56 I mean, it gets so complicated sometimes, so sometimes you have to kind of feign a degree of ignorance in order to get the FOI right.
5:05 I would also say that, in terms of a campaigning tool, FOI has been hugely beneficial in improving public trust, and that, of course, depends on the information being published, and we’re very conscious, and we know that the Commissioner’s Office, has done some work about this in the past.
5:24 A matter of concern is when people get FOI responses back, and I don’t know if you’ve been in this position, it’s got a copyright statement at the end about not sharing, and that the organisation that had shared it, they’ve retained copyright.
5:38 Now to the layperson, that’s quite a startling warning, and that’s something therefore they worry about.
5:43 Can I share it with the community council? Can I share it with the action group? Can I share it with my relatives?
5:49 And there is a drive towards plain English, but you know they might reveal the information, but people might be scared to share it.
5:55 And so I could go on for quite a while, but I won’t. I would just say that somebody had talked earlier about social media and making an FOI request.
6:06 One of the issues that we’ve been persuaded about recently is people recording an information request and submitting it, particularly people who have an impairment, people who perhaps have a dyslexia or whatever, and it’s easier for them to do so, and also for some dumb people it’s a much easier way to communicate, and it’s going to be interesting to see how those requests are dealt with.
6:33 So one of the things about FOI requests is that it’s got to be an agile system, and that’s why we’re changing the law, because it’s got to be applicable to the environment you’re working to. So, thank you.
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