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For the the third in our series of discovery workshops, we invited people working with FOI in public authorities to discuss how a network might support them — and we had more than 50 attendees joining us from a range of organisations and specialities.
Discussion was lively and informative, with many expressing a thirst for community and knowledge-sharing in their roles.
We began with a group brainstorming session to discuss the challenges and obstacles people were facing in their work with FOI.
From this, we pulled out the four major groupings below, so that smaller breakout groups could discuss what attempts had been made previously to mitigate these challenges, how effective these had been, and what an FOI Network could do to help.
Volume/complexity of requests
The increasing volume of FOI requests being received (a challenge which overlaps with that of the lack of resources, below) came up as a common issue, especially in conjunction with the increasing use of AI to generate requests.
Here, there are two concerns: that AI is leading to more complex (if not necessarily more effective) requests; and that there is potential for a deliberate, malicious use of AI-generated FOI requests that might overwhelm an authority without their necessarily being aware of it.
AI-generated/assisted requests are hard to formally recognise (although many are developing a ‘gut feeling’ around them), but also not inherently illegitimate. The group discussed tactics such as asking for clarification or ID, to flush out potentially inauthentic requests if suspected. A participant from the ICO also shared their recent AI guidance.
What could an FOI Network contribute here? Convening people was seen as useful in helping to understand patterns and themes between authorities, and shared approaches. This might take the form of directly organised networking activity, or supporting and promoting the informal networks that already exist.
Building centralised resources might also help in creating tools for assessing thresholds of vexatiousness, while also providing better assistance to requesters on what good and bad degrees of complexity looks like in an FOI request.
Locating information
Finding the information that is being requested is at the very heart of what an FOI officer does — and can present a sizable challenge, especially where data is not collected or stored consistently.
Discussion touched on issues around record keeping, proactive publication, resource and support from colleagues in sourcing/collecting information: while the officer is the entry point for requests for information, they most likely hold little of it themselves.
The amount of resource, support and priority is given to record keeping and FOI across the organisation affects how effective an officer can be.
Information can only be easily accessed if it is stored well: some participants talked about requests for data that is not currently centrally held, but which requesters argue should be, leading to antagonistic interactions, despite the Information Officer not being to blame.
Participants talked both about resourcing conflicts where other priorities were legitimately higher (eg “The information holders are clinical staff (NHS) and trying to get them to answer FOI requests when they are busy with patients is not reasonable”); but also situations where requests not taken seriously by senior teams, or other departments were slow to engage with them.
As such, a key challenge for information officers is navigating both the formal and relational structures of their organisation, and a key challenge for an FOI Network is finding ways to support this role in developing a culture of transparency and good record keeping practice.
Part of this fits with our theory that good FOI statistics are an important factor in empowering information officers — because this visibility would make FOI performance between organisations more salient, and so a greater concern for senior decision-makers.
Lack of resources
This group discussed the lack of resources, staffing and slashed funding — including elsewhere in the organisation, where diminished budgets can remove the institutional knowledge and capacity to effectively find information.
This was another area where there was great enthusiasm for better connections between officers across organisations, especially for the small, isolated teams. This would allow all to benefit from the knowledge of a wider group.
For a longer-term fix to the lack of resources, a united network could lobby to central government. This isn’t just about “more money”, but the effective production of centralised resources that would help everyone (eg software, tools and licences).
It was noted that redaction was a problem that was significantly time consuming, and available redaction tools (like Adobe Pro) were expensive and had limited licences.
Proactive publication was also identified as a resourcing issue: in repeated requests for hot topics; but also in that publishing information can lead to more requests asking for specifics.
From our point of view running WhatDoTheyKnow, this should still mean a greater public benefit from the information provided (people who wouldn’t ask for it have access to it), but does caution against an easy “publish more, request numbers decrease” approach — which does not align with the experience of practitioners.
Working with requesters
This group discussed complaints resulting from a requester not knowing how to navigate the FOI system or complaints processes, and thoughts on more effective communication. A lack of requester awareness that the FOI route is not the same as the complaint route was identified, as well as public confusion between FOI and data subject rights.
There is recognition that the requester doesn’t always know what information is available, which can lead to complex initial requests. But there was also a reported increase in adversarial/angry complaints, with a perception from request-makers that information was being denied when in didn’t exist. Where people are making requests across multiple authorities, getting refusals from some but not from others, can lead to this impression, while actually just reflecting differences in what data is collected.
Better information and signposting about how to make a good FOI request was considered helpful, but within limits. Improved web forms can be helpful, but are not the only route in. At the same time, from a volume and overload point of view, a concern that greater awareness of the act might lead to more requests. This makes it important to define what we’re after as a network that can reconcile both a civil society “it’s good if more people are aware of and use their rights” with the practicalities of make that right real, which includes understanding of capacity.
In general, a lot of the potential in this area is around helping those making, and those answering requests to understand each other, or at least understanding more about how things work behind the scenes.
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Finally, there was a more general discussion about forms a network can take, including the difficulty of convening both requesters and practitioners. Creating spaces for authority-side practitioners to talk helps with the smooth functioning of the FOI Act; these spaces would be more hesitant if always shared with civil society groups (and vice versa).
We want to find ways to bridge these groups, while recognising that both individually can be constructive. We need a set of layered discussions about how to make FOI work in practice, that can manage both communities of practice, also bridging both sides — recognising where common frustrations and collective goals can be served through better communication and coordination. This is inherently going to be complex, but will be so worthwhile to explore.
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Illustration: Alghozy
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/RSS FeedIn 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.
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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…)
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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…)
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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…)
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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.
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The FOI Network is an informal coalition of civil society organisations, journalists and academics with an interest in Freedom of Information, convened by mySociety and State of the Future. Last week, we held our first meet-up, in the shape of an online workshop, to discuss and prioritise the ways in which we might strengthen and defend the right to information in the UK. With potential threats rumbling on the horizon, it was a timely conversation.
Attendees came from a range of organisations and specialities. We had a group brainstorming session to identify firstly, opportunities to strengthen or expand FOI; and secondly, key threats and challenges.
From these, we pulled out four themes, which we discussed from the angle of which activities would bring the most impact for the effort expended.
Thematic groupings
The four topics discussed were:
- The expansion of FOI to currently uncovered bodies/sectors
- AI as an opportunity and challenge, and proactive / better publication
- Practical difficulties/support for FOI within public bodies
- The government’s opposition/lukewarm attitude towards existing/greater transparency
FOI expansion
As FOI’s reach is expanded, so is its utility to new groups, who would benefit from the Act in different ways. This is an approach that can benefit communities who have historically had low levels of power.
Expanding the FOI Act to new authorities would make possible new avenues of research and enquiry, providing access to useful data where it is not currently available. This includes important areas such as housing; or private contractors to government, where the case for increased transparency is easy to make.
We’re fortunate that we can look to Scotland, where Registered Social Landlords are subject to FOI requests, as an example: there is already a good evidence base for successful expansion. Equally, good arguments for expansion could be made by showing the types of essential questions that cannot currently be answered under the regime as it stands.
AI as opportunity and challenge, and proactive / better publication
In this area, the group decided that there are no highly effective actions that would also be easy to implement. Instead, we would be looking at a range of sensible small interventions around better guidance, training research, and more intensive technical work around proactive disclosure and unlocking the benefits of public data.
There is a wider problem around AI potentially overwhelming appeal mechanisms (for more on this, see the two Information Commissioners’ talks at FOI Fest). There is more to explore here, around triage methods, AI and increased volumes of both requests and appeals.
Practical difficulties/support for FOI within public bodies
An effective FOI system requires information officers to be well-resourced and supported within their organisation.
Here, potential actions ranged from campaigns for better stats around FOI (making FOI more visible to decision-makers, as in Scotland); sharing and promoting the success stories of FOI to show the value of the work; better networking/surveys of the profession; campaigning for statutory FOI officers; and technical support on document management/search technologies.
There was also some discussion around organisations where responding to requests pulls officers away from other work, affecting the prevailing attitudes towards FOI. The concept of statutory officers would have some bearing on this.
We will develop this segment in a further workshop, to which practitioners themselves will be invited.
Government opposed to/has a lukewarm attitude towards transparency
A key concern is how we improve FOI, when some of the mood music coming out of government is in favour of greater restrictions. But at the same time, “government” is a wide term: while there will be some institutional reluctance to transparency, there will also be some pockets where it aligns with other stated objectives.
We need a clearer map and understanding of these factions. We may need to be both defensive, pushing back against threats to transparency, while also building diverse institutional support. One benefit of an FOI network is that different parts of the coalition can do both at once.
From this follows a need for positive, public advocacy for the benefits of transparency, as well as a clear narrative of how it fits into wider government agendas around the redress of historic injustice, anti-corruption, value for money and so forth.
So that’s the summary of our discussion. We’ll keep you posted with progress reports from the FOI Network.
The next meet-up is about how the Network can support journalists and specialist users of FOI: if that’s of interest, sign up here.
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Image: Mark Fletcher-Brown
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Climate Emergency UK are mySociety’s partners in the Council Climate Action Scorecards project, which score every UK council across dozens of measures. In aggregate, the scores give councils a clear way to see how they’re doing, and concerned citizens a useful tool to scrutinise their own local authorities.
But not all the information needed for the Scorecards is openly available. In this short talk from FOI Fest, Isaac Beevor explains how Freedom of Information has solved that problem.
FOI Fest was a one-day conference from mySociety in February 2026.
*** Please fill in our short survey so that we can understand more about who listens to these podcasts, and why! Thank you. ***
Further info
Transcript
0:00 [Isaac Beevor] I’m Isaac. And I really appreciate actually, how Alex said my last name. It’s Isaac Beevor. But if you want to say it Isaac Bee-VOR, then that’s absolutely fantastic. So thank you. (more…)
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Remember the big Post Office scandal? One person played a massive part in uncovering the evidence that eventually brought the extent of the collusion and malpractice to light.
In this lightning talk from FOI Fest, citizen investigator Eleanor Shaikh explains the monumental effects she achieved, with little more than some FOI requests and a determination to bring justice to sub-Postmasters. You’ll be inspired by what you could do, too!
FOI Fest was a one-day conference from mySociety in February 2026.
*** Please fill in our short survey so that we can understand more about who listens to these podcasts, and why! Thank you. ***
Transcript
0:01 [Myf:] This is a lightning talk from FOI Fest, the one day Freedom of Information conference from mySociety. We’re going to hear citizen investigator Elena Shaikh on how she used FOI to uncover hidden facts around the Post Office Horizon scandal,and the effects they had – all in under 10 minutes.
0:25 [Eleanor Shaikh:] I’m not an academic or a journalist, I’m just a customer of the Post Office who began supporting its victims in 2017 when my local branch was hit by an alleged shortfall of £57,000, and I watched the life of the postmaster come crashing down as the burden of proof was cruelly reversed, meaning that innocence rather than guilt had to be proven. (more…)
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An expert panel discuss the current situation with FOI in the UK, and how it has shaped power and public life over the last 21 years.
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Panelists:
– Jenna Corderoy, Investigative Reporter, Democracy for Sale
– Warren Seddon, Director of FOI and Transparency, Information Commissioner’s Office
– Maurice Frankel, Chief Executive, Campaign for Freedom of Information
– Rose Whiffen, Senior Research Officer, Transparency International UK
– Gavin Freeguard, State of the Future (moderator)This was one of the sessions at FOI Fest. If you’d prefer to watch it as a video, head over to our YouTube channel.
Transcript
0:05 [Myf] This is a panel from FOI Fest on the subject of “What has 21 years of FOI changed?”.
0:14 [Gavin Freeguard] So first, we have Rose Whiffen, who is Senior Research Officer at Transparency International UK. We have Jenna Corderoy, who’s Investigative Reporter at Democracy For Sale, and we have Maurice Frankel, the chief executive of the Campaign for Freedom of Information UK. (more…)
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FOI Fest was a one-day conference that took place in London on 19th February, 2026. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be putting each session out as a separate podcast.
In this keynote, Warren Seddon, Director of FOI and Transparency at the Information Commissioner’s Office , gave a frank assessment of the current challenges of dealing with an unprecedented backlog of requests.
This session can also be watched as a video, on YouTube.
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Transcript:
0:00 [Gavin Freeguard] Welcome to FOI Fest 2026!
0:04 It’s my pleasure to welcome to the stage our morning keynote, that is Warren Seddon from the ICO.
0:09 [Warren] Thank you everyone for having me speak today. First of all, I feel like we start with an apology to Alex, who’s been involved in the organising for today, because I wrote my remarks, and then I looked at his email and I realised he sent me a brief for my remarks that talked about being energising and peppy, and you probably didn’t say peppy, and to get the day off on a footing. (more…)
