How to use the Freedom of Information law

In the UK, the Freedom of Information Act gives everyone the right to access information held by public authorities, including government departments, local councils, the police, the NHS, universities, Transport for London and many other public bodies. This can range from individual documents to large datasets - anything that is recorded information. But there are lots of restrictions which limit the sort of material that is released, and requesting information can often be a frustrating and difficult exercise.
Martin Rosenbaum will explain how you can best use the law to get the information you want, based on his wide experience. This will include lots of practical advice covering the legal structure, how the FOI system works in reality, how to phrase requests for information, what are the most likely obstacles and how to deal with them, and how to challenge rejections.
Martin is the author of 'Freedom of Information; A practical guidebook'. A former BBC political journalist and executive producer, for 16 years he was the leading specialist in BBC News in using FOI for journalism, breaking stories and training other BBC journalists. He is now an independent consultant and trainer on FOI. He is also writer-in-residence with the politics department at Birkbeck College, University of London.