Martin Rosenbaum

@mrosenbaum

Freedom of information expert & consultant. Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck College politics dept. Author, 'Freedom of Information: A practical guidebook', ExBBC political journalist & radio producer.

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Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· 29d

From the Hallett Covid Inquiry report on procurement published today

On a small but still concerning number of occasions, freedom of information requests and even threats of litigation from transparency campaigners and special interest groups were required before contract information was published or the scale of the problem with transparency during the pandemic was publicly acknowledged.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jul 1

For those, like me, who fall in the Venn diagram intersection of interest in both parkrun and data protection, there’s an interesting tale in Paul Sinton-Hewitt’s book - he got out of the S African armed forces as he had the legal right to inspect his own military records at his barracks

Here I was, an Australian in the pay of the South African Defence Force, with documentation to prove it should never have been allowed to happen. I was exempt.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jun 26

FOI requesting is also on the increase in Ireland

More than 46,000 freedom of information requests were made to public bodies in Ireland last year, marking an 11 per cent increase on 2024

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jun 23

The ICO's latest quarterly performance report reveals that it is now taking over 9 months just to allocate non-priority FOI complaints (the large majority) to a case officer! This is clearly a terrible state of affairs that frustrates the proper working of the FOI system.

"It is now taking us more than 9 months to allocate non-priority cases,
up from 6 months last quarter. This will continue to rise through 2026/27 and we expect to remain out of target for a prolonged period."

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jun 19

I know nothing of the allegations against him in this case or his 'inappropriate' attempts at humour that he admits. But here's a couple of his tweets from 2016 (when he was New Zealand Privacy Commissioner) that I preserved.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jun 19

This is how he explained his resignation

Since February of this year I have been the subject of an investigation. While I have not agreed with how that investigation has been conducted, I accept that my position has become untenable.

From the time the investigation was launched, I have accepted that there have been occasions where I exercised poor judgement and made attempts at humour that were inappropriate and caused offence.

It is for this reason that I have decided that it is appropriate that I resign from my position.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jun 19

John Edwards has resigned this morning as Information Commissioner, accepting that his position is now untenable. And he's promptly updated his LinkedIn profile - if you've got a job that would suit a former Information Commissioner, he says he's opentowork

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Apr 29

The latest annual government FOI stats also show another increase in the proportion of internal reviews which partly or fully overturn an initial withholding of information - it's now 28%. This is why it's worth asking for internal review, as many initial FOI rejections are unjustifiable.

Chart showing recent increase in proportion of FOI internal reviews that fully or partly overturn initial withholding of information

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Apr 29

FOI annual statistics just released show a significant increase last year of 21% in requests to UK central government departments, with particularly large increases for Home Office and DWP.

Chart showing annual numbers of FOI requests to UK government departments 2005-2025, with significant increase in 2025

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Apr 3

The ICO has just released its latest performance monitoring report, which confirms how FOI complaints have rapidly increased and its backlog has correspondingly got much worse - it's now taking over 6 months for non-priority cases to be allocated to a case officer

We will reach a decision and respond to 90% of FOI concerns within six months:
Last year, Q3 24/25 - 94.6% (Green); Previous, Q2 25/26 - 86.9% (Amber); Latest, Q3 25/26 - 79.0% (Red)

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Apr 1

The Information Commissioner has issued another Enforcement Notice against the Met Police, due to the Met's persistently inadequate and unacceptably poor record on responding to FOI requests

35. With regard to MPS’s current performance levels the Commissioner is particularly concerned that:
• MPS is not able to commit to achieving 90% compliance within a
certain timeframe;
• Over 100 requests were overdue as at 13 February 2026; and
• MPS is achieving only just over 70% compliance, and has never
achieved over 75.9%, when nearly a quarter of requests were
still not answered on time.
36. As previously noted, the Commissioner acknowledges the positive
engagement he has received from MPS’s information rights staff.
However, it is the responsibility of MPS as an organisation as a whole,
including at its highest levels, to ensure that it is meeting its statutory
FOI duties. Therefore, the Commissioner expects MPS to ensure that it
is not left to its information rights staff alone to meet the requirements
of the Notice. Senior leaders within MPS need to take ownership and
responsibility for achieving compliance with this Notice.
37. The Commissioner considers it unacceptable for the largest UK police force’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.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Mar 19

From article in today's Financial Times by @lucyfisher.ft.com - the reason why govt's preferred method of restricting FOI is via the cost limit is because this can be done directly through regulations, without legislation which would be tougher politically

British officials are considering a clampdown on the freedom of information system in a move that would spark backlash from transparency campaigners.

Government figures are discussing a reduction in the cost ceiling for processing a request as the number of annual submissions has spiralled, according to people familiar with the situation.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Mar 18

MHCLG has announced a new system for access to data about energy performance certs (EPCs) and display energy certs (DECs)

What is happening?
The current Energy Performance of Buildings Data service, available at https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/ is being retired. It will be replaced by a new service called Get Energy Performance Data.
What you need to do:
In order to continue using this open data, you will need to use the new service. You can access the service by signing in to or creating a GOV.UK One Login account, which you can do from the Get Energy Performance Data homepage at: https://get-energy-performance-data.communities.gov.uk/.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jan 23

For the first time the Scottish Info Commissioner @foi.scot has launched legal action against a public authority - the Scottish Government - for failing to comply with an FOI decision. www.foi.scot/statement-sc...

The Scottish Information Commissioner has instructed his solicitors to bring legal proceedings against the Scottish Government in the Court of Session. This follows a failure by the Scottish Government to provide evidence of compliance with a December 2025 decision requiring the Scottish Government to disclose some information relating to the James Hamilton Report into the conduct of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and associated legal advice.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jan 20

My quote in this important article:

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jan 13

I think it’s fair to say that the judge was not very impressed by Cornwall Council’s behaviour. The judgment from Judge Heather Williams includes these descriptions (what she called “a dismal litany of failings”) about the council’s handling of the information request and the legal case.

highly unsatisfactory
very protracted delay
a poor attitude towards compliance
cavalier, irresponsible and unreasonable
no sensible explanation
illogical and irrational
inadequate, unduly wide search parameters
thoroughly inadequate response
flawed refusal notice
discourteous
obstructive and unreasonable
failings were avoidable and should not have happened
too ready to try and place the blame on others
making unfounded allegations
did not treat its obligations with sufficient seriousness
concerning and unsatisfactory answer
disappointing response
multiple failings
earlier apologies ring rather hollow
repeated and serious breaches
procedurally unfair
cavalier in its failure
protracted nature of the council’s contempt

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jan 6

The ICO has published its decision in a high profile FOI case, backing the EHRC's refusal to disclose internal communications about its interim guidance after the UK Supreme Court judgment last April (which ruled that the meaning of "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 is biological)

42. However the Commissioner also considers the early stage at which the information was requested - shortly after the judgement and whilst the process to produce amended guidance was very much ongoing - to be a pivotal factor in the public interest considerations in this case. The EHRC, in its role as the independent regulator for equality and human rights, is trusted with providing guidance for policy makers, public sector bodies and businesses on equality and human rights law. Where any amendments occur to such laws, the Commissioner considers it vital that the EHRC is allowed a safe space to carry out its function of producing updated statutory and non-statutory guidance to the highest standard. The Commissioner does not consider it to be in the public interest to disclose information that would risk inhibiting the advice and deliberations feeding into that guidance.
43. Giving due consideration to the emotive subject matter and wideranging implications of the judgement in this case, the Commissioner is satisfied that disclosure of the requested information would be likely to provoke further polarised reactions. Having regard for the extreme nature of some of those reactions, such as threatening communications and vandalism at EHRC offices, the Commissioner is further satisfied that the EHRC is correct that the free and frank provision of advice, and the free and frank exchange of views for the purpose of deliberation would likely be inhibited. Whilst it is correct that officials should not to be easily deterred from expressing their views by the possibility of future disclosure, it is reasonable to understand in this case why they would likely be fearful of expressing their views so candidly.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Jan 5

Greenland: my archive research last year on how a century ago the UK briefly tried to assert an interest in the territory of Greenland but the Danes resisted - rosenbaum6.substack.com/p/no-britain...

The Foreign Office informed the Danish ambassador in London that the UK would only recognise their complete sovereignty over Greenland on one condition: that ‘should Denmark ever wish to dispose of the island, she would grant the right of pre-emption to the British Empire’.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 31

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”.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 30

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.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 20

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.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 17

The latest quarterly FOI stats also show the terrible record of the FCDO in complying with the legal deadline for replies (only 47%!) - it's not surprising that the ICO issued an enforcement notice against the FCDO earlier this week for this reason

Table showing the FCDO has the worst FOI delays of any government department

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 17

There's been a massive jump in FOI requests to the Home Office in particular, but increases across other departments too

Volume of FOI requests across all monitored bodies in Q3 July to September 2025 compared to Q3 July to September 2024

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 17

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

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 16

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”.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Dec 3

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.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Nov 28

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?

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Nov 20

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.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Nov 6

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'.

Martin Rosenbaum@mrosenbaum· Oct 30

FOI requesters often feel frustrated when getting answers like 'under 5' instead of actual numbers - but this isn't allowed unless the individuals involved are actually identifiable. See this recent ICO decision: ico.org.uk/media2/o0rgv... (h/t Tim Turner)