Freedom of Information Act

Heather Brooke
Using the Freedom of Information Act and open records laws

Content
Almost every day a story appears in the media that has come to light solely because of the Freedom of Information Act. The law is a fundamental part of good journalism and no reporter should be without at least a passing knowledge of the law and how to use it.

In this course you will learn how to make freedom of information requests including guidance on who is covered, time limits, fees, exemptions and appeals. You will also be given inside knowledge into the common difficulties faced by requesters and how best to anticipate and overcome them in order to increase the likelihood that you will get what you want.

The course is taught by Heather Brooke, the leading FOIA specialist and author of the citizen’s guide to getting official information, Your Right to Know. Heather has trained journalists at the BBC (including the World Service, News, Current Affairs, Watchdog, Rogue Trader and Whistleblower), Sky News and many national and regional newspapers. Her FOI investigations have appeared in the Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and London’s Evening Standard.

Students from the course have gone on to use the Act to break exclusive stories in the national and regional media. Adele Waters, Campaigns Editor at Nursing Standard magazine, said: “I used FOI to investigate the attrition rates from nursing degree and diploma courses across the UK. It came in at 25 per cent at an estimated cost to the tax payer of £57 million a year. These findings were published by Nursing Standard in February, and subsequently in most national newspapers and also radio and TV news. Also questions were asked in Parliament. Now the DoH has commissioned some further investigation of this particular problem - despite denying it was a problem in the first place!”

Campaign groups are using the FOI also to gather facts to advance their causes: Campaign Against the Arms Trade made a number of FOI requests to local councils that revealed how many had investments in arms companies. See:
http://www.caat.org.uk/caatnews/2006_06/local-campaigns.php
The scandal of sexual assault in mental health wards was only revealed when MIND filed an FOI request for a national report that had been suppressed for months. Visit

http://www.mind.org.uk/News+policy+and+campaigns/Press/abusereport.htm

The General Workers Union was able to lobby for more permanent staff after it used FOI to uncover how much councils spent on temporary agency staff:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?D2DC1506D

FOI laws are a fundamental part of journalism and for ensuring freedom of the press and freedom of expression. FOI ensures that public services work for the people and not against them. FOI gives you the right to find out how public bodies spend money, how they make and implement policy and to hold them accountable for the decisions they make.

The course will cover:

The Freedom of Information Act. What it is and how to use it. Exemptions, appeals and charges.
The new Environmental Information Regulations. What they are and how to use them, and how they differ from FOI.
The sorts of problems you can expect and how to get around them.
An overview of all the major public registers, online databases, and internet resources
Integrating public records and public information requests into day-to-day reporting.
Using access requests to produce investigative stories
Local government information and access to meetings

Who should attend?
Journalists, campaigners and union reps who want to get the facts behind political spin whether to produce an award-winning, investigative report or to obtain the facts needed to challenge a public policy.

Qualifications
No formal qualifications are required but you should have basic computer literacy and experience of using a browser. Mostly you need a lot of curiosity, tenacity and the ability to plan ahead.

Expected learning outcomes

Understand the different access laws and how to use them.
Be able to write and send FOIA and other access requests quickly
Be able to predict and challenge official secrecy
A knowledge of existing public records in your chosen field.
An awareness of how others have used FOI to write better stories and challenge policy

VIEW COURSE CALENDAR

ENDS

Date added: Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Last modified: Friday, August 18, 2006
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FORTHCOMING DATES
This course is not scheduled at present. Please contact NUJ Training to be added to the waiting list.

View course calendar for all details.

If you want to know more about this course, or you have any questions for previous attendees, visit the Course Forums section of the site.

TESTIMONIALS
(click name to view)

Sarah Bayliss (Teaching Awards, 13 February 2007)

Michael Wagstaff - SubEditor, Writer, Researcher (1st July 2008)

Julian Earwaker (11th February 2009)

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