Rob Edwards

16 tips for using freedom of information law in the UK

talk to Strathclyde University journalism students, 30 April 2013

Here are a few suggestions on how to exercise your right to know using freedom of information legislation in the UK. They are not exhaustive or comprehensive.

1. Don’t go drift netting for thousands of fish, go angling for one or two. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with fishing for information from public agencies, but it’s best if you have at least an idea of what you’re looking for - a rough idea of where the bodies might be buried, or where the smoking guns are hidden.

2. Know your topic before you make freedom of information (FoI) requests. Be aware of what’s already in the public domain. Use Google to check what’s online. Look at the information already released, and work out which public agencies might have the information you’re after. Talk to experts, insiders, academics, campaigners, politicians – anyone who might have insight into the issue you are researching.

3. Use investigative journalism. FoI requests are not a substitute for investigatory research work, they are a supplement to it. By far the best FoI requests are those where you know exactly what you are looking for, when an insider or campaigner has tipped you off to the existence of an interesting or embarrassing report or email, and you can ask for it by date, reference number or author.

4. Ask about things that matter to you. I think it’s important to make FoI requests about issues that concern you, bother you, worry you – about things you really care about, are curious about. Scams you suspect, injustices that anger you, pollution that upsets you, societal idiocies you think need to be exposed.

Ethics and journalism

a talk to NUJ Edinburgh Freelance Branch, 20 February 2012

Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936) was a journalist in Chicago. His famous Irish character, Dooley, once warned of the power of newspapers:

“The newspaper does everything for us. It runs the police force and the banks, commands the military, controls the legislature, baptises the young, marries the foolish, comforts the afflicted, afflicts the comfortable, buries the dead and roasts them afterwards.” 

One part of that has often since been taken up as summarising the job of a newspaper: to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I quite like that, only I would make it a little more political. The job of a journalist, as I see it, is to try and help the powerless by challenging the powerful.

Maybe not everyone will agree, but it’s a good starting point I think for discussing ethics in journalism this evening. In doing so I should make clear that what I say is no more and no less than my personal opinion, based on my experience as a freelance journalist over 30 years. I should stress that I don’t have any exclusive insight on ethics, nor any claim to be more or less ethical than any of my colleagues. 

Freedom of information appeals: the requester’s perspective

a talk at the Centre for Freedom of Information, University of Dundee, 19 October 2011

Hello. I'm glad to be here. It's daunting to give my views rather than report other people’s.

First an illustrative little story. In 2005 under what was then the new freedom of information (FoI) legislation I asked the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in London about a list of potential nuclear waste dumps which the government waste agency, Nirex, had given them. This was a Defra official’s baffling response:

What I am saying is that we don't have the list. I wouldn't want and couldn't be definitive about whether we had never had it. All I am saying is that if we did once have it, there's no record or memory of that being the case.

Maybe they could have just said: “Sorry, we lost it.” Six months later, after a lot of backstage political manoeuvring and several U-turns – all of which I know about because of a later FoI request – the list of possible nuclear waste dumps was released. Two months after that I heard back from the UK Information Commissioner, to whom I had appeal earlier when it looked like the list might not be released, saying he was ready to begin his investigation. I had to point out that if he had read the newspapers, he would know that the information had all been released so the investigation was redundant. As you’ll see from what I’m going to say, I’m not sure that the UK Information Commissioner’s attitude has improved much since.

Climate change, housing and revolution

a talk to the Scottish Government Housing Investment Division West Region, Glasgow, 24 November 2009.

Thank you for inviting me. I am particularly delighted to be talking to you today because you are employees of the Scottish Government and that  gives me an excuse to tell a story I’ve been dying to tell for years, many years.

Decades ago I worked for the housing campaign group, Shelter. After I left to become a freelance writer and journalist, I was commissioned to write an assessment of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service in Scotland from 1980 to 1986. This involved me in talking to tenants’ organisations, voluntary groups, housing experts and, crucially, relevant officials in the then Scottish Office. I remember conducting a major interview with a bright young civil servant, who made some frank, critical and interesting remarks about the advisory service, some of which I included in my final report.

Using freedom of information legislation

a seminar on freedom of information, Napier University, Edinburgh, 27 October 2008

Hello. I'm glad to be here. It's daunting to give my views rather than report other people’s. First here is a brief overview of what I’m planning to say in the short time available.

experience with freedom of information

excuses, excuses - the bad old days

these days - a change for the better

new excuses - other problems

exercising your right to know

experience with freedom of information

Composting: seriously good shit

a talk to the Composting Association Scotland's seminar, 'Planning, Permitting and Purchasing, Perth, 01 May 2008 

It is good, if somewhat unexpected, to be here. I am not a government minister, in fact more often a government critic. So it’s hard to resist a platform which could have been Richard Lochhead’s or Michael Russell’s. I wish Richard Lochhead well with he and his wife’s new baby.

Like any good opening speaker, I'll start with some jokes, and I'll assume you're broadminded. Composting: in crude terms, in one sense, maybe stretching definitions a little, what we’re talking about here is shit - and boy are there lots of jokes about that. I particularly like the way the simple word can be used to help define almost any human framework of belief.

What next for Scotland's water industry?

a talk to a Holyrood conference 'Turning the tide: the future of Scotland's water’, Edinburgh, 03 March 2008

First I would like to say something about bottled water. What is the point of it? It's hugely wasteful of resources, ludicrously expensive, and in most cases tastes no different from the water that comes out of the tap. What is the point of paying through the nose for the stuff? Why do people do it? The clue - someone pointed out to me the other day - is in the name of one of the main brands of bottled water - Evian. Look what happens if you spell the word backwards - Evian becomes naive. Maybe that's what the purchasers of bottled water are.

Thank you for inviting me to speak. It is an unusual privilege for a journalist to be asked to comment on current affairs rather than to report other people's comments, which is what I spend most of my time doing. It's daunting and, some might say, something of a cheek for a journalist to be pontificating about the future of Scotland's water, especially as many in the audience will know more than I do. Most of what I do is to write stories about the times that things that go wrong, ignoring the many more frequent times when things go right.

The environmental impact of nuclear weapons

a talk to the Scottish Government's summit on Scotland's Future Without Nuclear Weapons, Glasgow, 22 October 2007

I'm very pleased to be here. I want to talk very briefly about the work that's been done on the environmental impact of nuclear weapons, and provide some pointers as to what I think the Scottish Government may be able to do to block Westminster's plans to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system.

We have gleaned a good deal of information over the last couple of years from freedom of information requests to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As a result we are much better informed about the potential risks of nuclear weapons - and about the potential tools available to the Scottish Government.

I want to talk first about the risks of nuclear weapons convoys, then a little about health and safety at the Faslane and Coulport nuclear bases. Next I will talk about the environmental controls, and say something about potential planning issues. I have to also make the usual caveat. The views I express are mine and not necessarily those of my employers.

Setting the scene on sustainable waste management

a talk to the 6th Annual Scottish Waste Management Conference, Glasgow, 10 October 2007

Thank you. Like a good opening speaker, I've tried hard to find a good joke about waste, but I failed. All the waste jokes I found on the internet were, well, rubbish. And one I was sent by the consultant George Niblock, who may be known to some of you, was, well, unrepeatable. So I've slightly adapted a joke mocking engineers instead. Forgive me if you've heard it.

A mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, a waste engineer and a computer software engineer are all travelling along the road in an old banger when all of the sudden the car backfires loudly and comes to a juddering halt.
"Ah!" says the mechanical engineer, "I know what the problem is - it'll be the valves, or the piston in the engine."
"Nonsense!" says the electrical engineer. "It'll be a problem with the spark plugs or the battery!".
"No, no, no," says the waste engineer, "there's bound to be something wrong with the exhaust."
As they argue, they notice that the computer software engineer hasn't said anything, so they turn and ask what should be done.
"Errr," says the computer software engineer, "how about we all get out of the car, count to ten, get back in again and just try to restart it?"

How to increase your column inches

talk to The Wildlife Trusts Directors' Conference, Pitlochry, 12 June 2007

Hello. The title of my talk today is 'How to increase your column inches'. Unfortunately that reminds me of a slightly rude letter I read recently in New Scientist about the phenomenon of junk email. A male reader wrote in to say that he didn't see what the problem was with junk email. He had been faithfully following the instructions he had received in every junk email for years, and his penis was now 42 feet long.

A journalist’s perspective on freedom of information

talk to Act Now 2nd Annual Freedom of Information Scotland Act Conference, Edinburgh, 07 February 2006.

Should scientists tamper with nature?

talk to Royal Society, Edinburgh, 09 November 2004

My business is words, so I want to start - and end - my short contribution to this evening's discussion by talking about words. Some of you may know this passage from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible:

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

The media, radiation and risk

talk to Chilton seminar, 26 March 2004

Many years ago there was a competition in the New Statesman magazine which asked readers to summarise great works of literature in newspaper headlines. Hamlet became 'Five die in palace brawl'. Genesis was 'God says 'Man to blame''. And, most tasteless of all, Joan of Arc was rendered as 'Phew! What a scorcher'.