Martin Rosenbaum
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mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Martin Rosenbaum
@mrosenbaum.bsky.social
2.8K followers 700 following 280 posts
Freedom of information expert & consultant. Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College politics dept. Author, 'Freedom of Information: A practical guidebook', http://amzn.to/3L2tuKi. ExBBC political journalist & radio producer. https://rosenbaum.org.uk/
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mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Martin Rosenbaum @mrosenbaum.bsky.social · Jan 10
Since my recent revelations using FOI seem to have sparked some interest here, this seems like a good time to say that if you also want to use FOI effectively, I recommend you buy my book: 'Freedom of Information: A practical guidebook' www.amazon.co.uk/Freedom-Info...
Front cover of 'Freedom of Information: A practical guidebook'
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Newly declassified documents reveal how Tony Blair quickly regretted the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act - my article for the Telegraph today:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...
January 4, 2026 at 11:13 AM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
New releases from the National Archives of government records from 2005 show how ministers and officials reacted uneasily to the implementation of FOI, and how they handled some initial cases - "This is becoming a real problem". What I found in the files: rosenbaum6.substack.com/p/tony-we-ha...
Memo about FOI from Jonathan Powell, chief of staff, to Blair: “This is becoming a real problem”. The prime minister writing in reply: “What is the solution?! I need a recommendation”.
December 31, 2025 at 10:24 AM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
I thought this was the most striking point - depressing but entirely plausible as pragmatic advice. (The whole piece is good and worth reading).
Do as little as possible cross government. The state is interconnected: health outcomes are influenced by educational policy which is influenced by welfare policy… etc. The division of government into 20-odd departments is somewhat arbitrary. That means that there is always an argument that a given policy would better be delivered through multiple departments. It can sound alluringly grown up to launch a cross-departmental, cross-cutting policy initiative. But you and your Minister have limited time, and any action requiring other departments to do stuff is 200% harder. Getting stuff done in your own department is hard enough.
December 30, 2025 at 1:47 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
The government says it's not planning to extend FOI to cover Electoral Returning Officers. However, the forthcoming elections legislation will be a good opportunity to raise this issue further and for someone to propose an amendment to change this.
December 20, 2025 at 5:19 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Latest quarterly FOI statistics out today show a big increase in FOI requests to UK central govt departments - this is my chart going back to 2005 based on the official figures
Chart of FOI requests to UK government departments since 2005, showing big jump in the last quarter
December 17, 2025 at 10:12 AM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
The ICO has issued an enforcement notice against the FCDO because of its persistently "unacceptable" delays in processing FOI requests and its failure to improve properly, despite the ICO's previous more limited interventions.

Good - the FCDO's track record on FOI is terrible.
The Commissioner considers it unacceptable for a government department’s compliance with the timeliness obligations of FOIA to be so far removed from the law set by parliament and his minimum expected standard for compliance, as well as the average performance for that sector. As the data in Annex 4 demonstrates the FCDO’s performance has been at such a level for a number of years and the Commissioner’s previous interventions and engagements with the FCDO have not led to sustainable improvements, but have demonstrated that better performance has been possible when sufficient focus has been applied to this area. The Commissioner agrees with recent comments by the First-tier Tribunal that compliance with the statutory timetable is vital and that “Significant delays can cause real difficulties to applicants, who often need information within a particular period of time for important reasons”.
December 16, 2025 at 2:55 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
FOI Fest is coming! A one-day conference about FOI's achievements and challenges in both policy and practice - Thurs, 19 Feb 2026, at Birkbeck College in central London (and also online). Sign up here - pretix.eu/mysociety/fo... - and see you there. If you're interested in FOI, this is for you.
FOI Fest 2026
Thu, Feb. 19, 2026
pretix.eu
December 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
The Covid Inquiry revealed how the use of chat apps in gov't created an unprecedented document trail, along with a temptation to avoid record keeping or to lose/delete records. By @benworthy.bsky.social & me, for @politicalquarterly.bsky.social - thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com/p/government...
Government by WhatsApp?
The Covid Inquiry revealed that there were ‘substantive discussions’ of important policy decisions through texts and messages. Is this ever acceptable? By Ben Worthy and Martin Rosenbaum.
thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
The Covid Inquiry revealed how the use of chat apps in gov't created an unprecedented document trail, along with a temptation to avoid record keeping or to lose/delete records. By @benworthy.bsky.social & me, for @politicalquarterly.bsky.social - thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com/p/government...
Government by WhatsApp?
The Covid Inquiry revealed that there were ‘substantive discussions’ of important policy decisions through texts and messages. Is this ever acceptable? By Ben Worthy and Martin Rosenbaum.
thepoliticalquarterly.substack.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
There's an interesting point in this on how automatic transcription of video calls creates more information subject potentially to FOI. While the article presents this as a problem for public bodies, it is equally an opportunity for FOI requesters. www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
December 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
How much has the Cabinet Office spent in the last year on legal advice in FOI cases where initial refusals were later overturned? - asks @jimmcmahon.co.uk.
We're not going to tell you - replies the minister, @chriswardmp.bsky.social.
Jim McMahon Labour/Co-operative, Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on legal advice for Freedom of Information requests which were first declined and subsequently provided following challenges by (a) internal review, (b) Information Commissioner ruling and (c) first tier tribunal ruling in the last 12 months. Chris Ward The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
December 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
cfoiscot.bsky.social
Read the published responses to the SPPA Committee's consultation on the Bill here: yourviews.parliament.scot/sppa/freedom...
Published responses for Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill - Scottish Parliament - Citizen Space
Find and participate in consultations run by the Scottish Parliament
yourviews.parliament.scot
December 3, 2025 at 3:48 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
In the Commons yesterday, Tory frontbencher Caroline Johnson initiated a debate on government transparency and accountability - including on the pincer movement sometimes needed using both written PQs and FOI to extract answers (the reply from the minister Chris Ward did not engage with this point)
I will give an example. After the strategic defence review in 2025, I submitted a written parliamentary question to the Secretary of State for Defence to ask which industry bodies, defence industry companies, media organisations and other non-government bodies or people were given access to the review ahead of its publication, and at what times. Because they did not answer the question, I submitted an FOI request. I did not receive a timely response to that. I therefore had to go back to where I started and submitted a written question on 1 September, asking when the Department planned to respond to the FOI request. I finally received a grossly belated response on 16 September—yet it was dated 9 September—from the Secretary of State. That reply was incomplete and I have had to submit another FOI request to get the rest of the information. Is this not the kind of wasteful and inefficient use of time in Government Departments and the civil service that our constituents want rooting out? Why should Members need to submit an FOI request to get an answer to their written question and then submit a written question about that very FOI request in order to get the answer that the Department clearly had all along?
November 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
profjanegreen.bsky.social
UK politics followers, these graphs are in a paper by @jamesdgriffiths.bsky.social and co (inc. me).

There's so much useful info in them.

The long-term context for the politics of our time, how the 'Brexit elections' differed, though note the Y axes may need to be bigger for the next election!!
November 28, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Standing offer: if you maintain the LLPG at a UK council and think the address records are Authority Owned Data rather than Supplied Data (iykyk), email me at owen.boswarva@gmail.com. I will try to unlock the address data legally using FOI + RPSI regs, and forget your name.

#opendata #openaddresses
November 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
How a recent Scottish council by-election became a natural experiment for assessing the potential extent of anti-Reform tactical voting - rosenbaum6.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
How a recent Scottish council by-election became a natural experiment for assessing the potential extent of anti-Reform tactical voting - rosenbaum6.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Some lessons from last week's by-election in Scotland's most southerly council ward for the potential of anti-Reform tactical voting - rosenbaum6.substack.com/p/will-the-l...
November 24, 2025 at 4:58 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
What the Hallett Covid inquiry report says about use of private communication channels (eg WhatsApp) & impact on govt record-keeping: it is likely to 'undermine external scrutiny of decision-making, transparency and public accountability' and impede responses to FOI requests.
Mr Johnson told the Inquiry that there “was not ‘Government by WhatsApp’” in the UK government during the pandemic.222 However, there was evidence of UK government WhatsApp discussions about: possible interventions in March 2020; the lifting of restrictions in the summer of 2020; whether to implement a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown in September 2020; the viability of population segmentation; mandating face coverings; and the reduction in social distancing.223 11.116. Key decision-makers such as Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney used private phones for official business throughout the pandemic and to discuss aspects of the response. Ms Sturgeon used direct messaging on the social media platform Twitter (subsequently known as X) to discuss the pandemic response with Professor Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group.224 11.117. The Inquiry also saw examples of substantive discussions between ministers, civil servants and special advisers in Northern Ireland on instant communication channels.225 The use of private channels also makes official record-keeping of decision-making more difficult and less reliable, which is likely to undermine external scrutiny of decision-making, transparency and, ultimately, public accountability.234 The ability of government to comply with its legal obligations (including those under the Public Records Act 1958) in response to freedom of information requests, during court processes and in the work of public inquiries may also be impeded. Government business should be conducted using approved channels on official devices. This is to ensure the adequacy of decision-making processes and the retention of the requisite records, as well as to protect the security of communications. However, if in exceptional circumstances a person uses a private device for government business, they must ensure that all communications are retained and transferred to official systems. Policies should be updated to ensure this. Otherwise, governments have no real oversight of the extent to which private devices, as well as instant communication channels, are being used for government business. Appropriate record-keeping is also reliant upon individuals proactively identifying and transferring relevant information to official systems.
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Classic redaction error ... just copy and paste the 'redacted' text, and hey presto!
owenboswarva.bsky.social Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · Nov 18
Oops: MoD blunder reveals secret details of bomb project www.theferret.scot/mod-details-... from @theferret.scot

#FOI #redaction #armstrade
The Ministry of Defence has apologised after it accidentally leaked secret documents to The Ferret revealing it was considering Grangemouth and other sites across the UK for new arms factories. Twelve potential locations for making explosives were mistakenly identified in emails released to us under freedom of information (FoI) law. Blacked out text which was meant to remain hidden could be uncovered simply by copying and pasting it into another document. Sites under consideration include parts of the Grangemouth industrial complex, the Finnart oil terminal on Loch Long, and locations in Cumbria, Teesside, Northumberland, Southampton and Wales.
November 18, 2025 at 8:33 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
A challenge to pollsters as well as to academic researchers ...
joshmccrain.bsky.social Josh McCrain @joshmccrain.bsky.social · Nov 18
new paper by Sean Westwood:

With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 18, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Martin Rosenbaum
benworthy.bsky.social
Come along to my talk 'Does Transparency Make for Better Politics?' 25 November 2025, 13:00 — 14:00 (online)
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
SECRETS AND LIES: DOES MORE TRANSPARENCY MAKE FOR BETTER POLITICS?
3rd Seminar Series on Governance, Institutions and Sustainability
www.bbk.ac.uk
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Here's a recording, if you're interested, of myself and the ICO's Director of FOI Warren Seddon discussing 20 years of FOI in the UK and its impact (from the ICO's annual conference a couple of weeks ago) - ico.org.uk/about-the-ic...
November 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
Very interesting interview, with Andrew Lownie outlining some of the obstacles placed in his way, as he tried to bring more scrutiny and transparency to royal activities
petergeoghegan.bsky.social Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · Nov 8
The full interview with Andrew Lownie about how Prince Andrew was protected - and how documents about the royals are suppressed - is also up on YouTube

Would highly recommend watching it youtu.be/OJHaVsDVv-c?...
The Prince Andrew Cover Up: How Royal Files Are Hidden From Public
YouTube video by Democracy for Sale
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
mrosenbaum.bsky.social
The ICO is investigating claims that on the same day that an FOI tribunal ordered Fermanagh & Omagh Council to disclose inspection reports for two dog breeders, the council destroyed eight years' worth of similar information about other dog breeding premises. The ICO is 'surprised and concerned'.
November 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM