Local influencing

Freedom of Information (FoI) requests can be a really effective tool for influencing policy. As well as helping to fill gaps in data or information, they can be particularly useful to determine the extent to which national policy might be being implemented locally or regionally. As I have explored in a previous post, so much of the responsibility for policy decision making is devolved away from central government departments. This can make it harder to find out what is happening on the ground, how well a government’s stated objectives for a particular policy are being achieved, or simply whether the policy is even being implemented in the first place.

In this post, I take a look at what Freedom of Information requests are and how you can use them to support your policy influencing work. I’ll explore how to construct a request that will get you the information that you need, and some of the ways that you can use the results.

What is a Freedom of Information Act request?

The Freedom of Information Act (2000) and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (2002) give citizens the right to request certain information from public authorities. This means that you can ask for information from UK government departments, devolved administrations and other public bodies including councils, schools and colleges, the NHS, the police and fire services, and publicly owned companies, among others. It does not, however, apply to private organisations or companies.

How do you submit a request?

You can submit a Freedom of Information request in a variety of different ways – by letter, email, social media or even by fax (if you still use those!). Some organisations may even have an online form of their website to use to submit a request.

It doesn’t matter how you make your request – it will be treated the same by the organisation receiving it.

There are some basic bits of information that you will need to include however you might be submitting your request. This includes:

Your name
Contact details (a postal or email address)
A description of the information that you are requesting

If you want to receive information in a particular format, you can also ask at this point too. For example, you might want paper or electronic copies, or information in an accessible format such as audio or large print.

Can a request be denied?

Yes, it can. It can be denied if you have asked the wrong organisation for the information that you want (think carefully about which organisation actually has the information that you need). You request can also be turned down if you are seeking personal or certain sensitive information that is not made available to the public (although you should be told if this is the case).

Importantly, a request can be turned down if it would simply cost too much for the organisation to gather the information that you are asking for. The limit for this is set at £450, or £600 if the organisation is a government department, Parliament, the armed forces, the Northern Ireland Assembly or Welsh Government, or if the organisation is based in Scotland. In calculating the cost of gathering the data, it’s worth noting that organisations cost a person’s time at £25 per hour.

If your request is denied, you can ask the organisation to review their decision. If you’re still not satisfied, you can go to the Information Commissioner’s Office (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or the Scottish Information Commissioner.

However, if your request is turned down, it might be that the way you put your request together was either too vague, or too broad. You might just need to go back and look again at the question that you have asked. It’s well worth taking a bit of time at the beginning of the process to frame your questions appropriately.

How do you structure a request that will get you what you need?

To make sure that your request generates the information that you want and need, it’s worth taking a bit of time to get it right. It’s also worth bearing in mind that frivolous or unfocused requests cost the taxpayer money, so it’s important to make the most efficient and effective use of the Freedom of Information Act.

There are a few tips to making sure that your request gets you what you need:

Do your research first

Make sure that you know which organisation will have the information that you need, and that the information hasn’t already been published or made available. Spending a bit of time researching what has been asked before could save a lot of time and energy, and targeting the right organisation will reduce the chances of your request being turned down at the first hurdle.

Be as specific as possible

Try to be as specific as you can possibly be about the information that you are asking for. Avoid requests that ask for ‘all the information’ on a particular topic (those are likely to be turned down on cost grounds), or which are unclear about what you are asking for. The more specific you can be, the better. It will make your life, and that of the organisation you are requesting the information from, so much easier.

Plan ahead

Allow enough time to get the information that you need. Be prepared that if your initial request is turned down, you might need to try again in a slightly different way.

How long will it take?

When you submit a request, the organisation that you are requesting the information from has 20 working days to respond. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have the information that you requested within 20 working days. If your request is denied, you will also be informed within this time limit. You may also be told within that 20 working day limit that it will take the organisation longer to gather the information that you have asked for. Be prepared to be patient.

How can FoI requests support policy influencing?

Freedom of Information requests can be a really useful tool to support your policy influencing work. They can help you access information that a public authority might not routinely make publicly available (such as statistics or data), to unpick what information is collected on a particular topic, or to understand how well, or not, a particular policy is being implemented at a local level.

Establishing whether and how a policy might be being implemented locally

In my opinion, one of the most powerful ways to use Freedom of Information Act request is to establish whether and how a particular policy is being implemented locally. As I have described in a previous post, many aspects of public policy are devolved to a more local level, which can make it difficult to establish what is happening on the ground.

If you take a look at the response from government ministers to parliamentary questions you will quite quickly see that the response of ‘that information is not collected centrally’ is quite commonly used where responsibility for the implementation of a particular policy is devolved to other organisations. That is quite common in health and care policy, but also in education and several other aspects of public policy.

That does not, of course, mean that the information isn’t available at all – just that it isn’t collected or collated at a national level. This is a great example of where a Freedom of Information Act request can be used to help fill that gap.

You might decide that a good way to get the information that you need is to ask regional or local public authorities who are more likely to have the information that you need. You might be interested in a national picture (in which case you might want to make the same request of all areas), or a particular local area or region.

Making this kind of ‘mass request’, where you ask a lot of organisations for the same information to build up a national picture, can be a really effective influencing tool. It will help you to hold government to account for the delivery of a particular policy commitment, for example, or help you to evidence a particular issue that might require government action.

If you are planning to deploy this ‘mass request’ approach, there are a few things to bear in mind to maximise your chances of success.

Test your questions first

If you’re asking a large number of organisations for the same information, it’s worth testing that the questions you are asking will generate the information that you need. Before you send a request to all schools, colleges, police authorities or NHS organisations, it’s worth testing your request with a much smaller number. If there are any problems with the way that you are framing your request, you’ll have a chance to correct it before you go out to all of the relevant organisations – saving you, and them, time and money.

Get advice

Most FoI officers will be happy to work with you to make sure that your request is shaped as well as it can be. Afterall, it’s in their interest to have well-crafted requests as much as it is in yours to target the information that you need. While this applies to any FoI request, it’s particularly important if you are planning to deploy a ‘mass request’ technique.

Using FoI information with the media

Freedom of Information Act requests can be a fantastic resource to build a media story on a particular topic. They can help identify gaps, show trends, or highlight deficiencies in public policy. If you have such a capacity within your organisation, it’s worth working closely with your media or communications colleagues to explore whether or not there might be a media story in the information that you gather, although remember that it’s important to use such information responsibly, and to provide context to the information that you gather. As I have explored in a previous post, the media can also be a powerful tool for influencing the policy agenda.

Conclusion

Freedom of Information Act requests can be a really powerful tool in the policy influencing toolkit. They can help you to extract information that might not be made readily available, or to identify weaknesses in the implementation of policy at a local level.

What ways have you used Freedom of Information Act requests to support your policy influencing work? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you or your organisation are looking to do more policy influencing work, and would like some help or advice, I’d be happy to have a chat. Just drop me a line via the ‘Contact’ link above, or email me at hello@thepolicycoach.co.uk

In a previous post, I talked about how important it is to know who the target of your influencing work might be. There is little point coming up with a really well-developed strategy to target Westminster MPs if it’s the Scottish Government or an English local council that actually has the decision-making power.

Subsidiarity is a well-established principle in policy making. Essentially it means that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level. In other words, central government should only do the things that only central government can do. Those who have studied public policy may be familiar with the principle as a bedrock of the architecture of the European Union. But it also applies in the UK (although not always successfully, but that’s a discussion for another day!).

In almost every area of public policy, there is at least an element of devolved responsibility (except perhaps in defence and foreign affairs). There are policy decisions taken at every level that affect all our lives. Whether that is the obviously local responsibilities of councils around the UK, the formally devolved responsibilities of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, or the operational (and to some extent strategic) decisions that, for example, schools, hospitals and other NHS bodies are responsible for.

To influence decision making at different levels, you will need to deploy different tactics and strategies. So, it’s really important as a first step to work out where the decision-making power actually sits.

So, here are my top tips for influencing policy decisions at different levels.

Tip 1: The more local you get, the more personal it needs to be

There’s a noticeable difference in the accessibility of decision makers at different levels of the system. As a general rule of thumb, the more local it becomes, the more accessible decision makers are likely to be. There’s a big difference between trying to reach a UK Government minister, compared to minister in one of the devolved administrations. Your tactics will need to be adapted accordingly.

Tip 2: Think about the optics

This is especially important when trying to influence policy decisions that are the responsibility of the devolved administrations, but also applies to other levels too. Think carefully about how policy influencing work would look coming from a London or England base. The reality is that your message is less likely to get cut through. Which brings me to point 3.

Tip 3: Find local allies and advocates

For anyone working at a national (UK) level trying to influence decisions that might be taken at a different level, the first challenge is how practically you can do that. A really useful tip is to try to find allies and advocates that you can align with and work with at the right level. For example, if you’re trying to influence the decisions that local councils might make, think about who the influencers and allies at that level could be, and how you can connect with them. There’s strength (and reach) in numbers.

Tip 4: Do your research

When you have worked out where the decision-making responsibility might be, it’s really important to do your research to understand how and when decisions might be taken. For example, are their groups or committees that will take the decision, and what is the best way to approach them? Or is it down to an individual? Different organisations will have different processes, and therefore different tactics will be needed to try to influence them.

Tip 5: Understand the context

While responsibility for decision making might be delegated, it’s likely that those decisions will be taken within some broader policy framework. For example, if you’re trying to influence the way in which decisions about planning are taken in a particular area, what is the overall local planning strategy, and what national policy might provide some constraints to that decision making? This broader context might give you some strategies and tactics to explore.

Tip 6: Localise your evidence

In a previous post, I discussed the importance of evidence to support policy influencing activities. When it comes to influencing decisions at different levels, it’s really important that you can, wherever possible, localise your evidence. For example, there’s little point using national level data to evidence the need for action on a particular health issue if responsibility for that issue sits at a regional level. Much better if you can demonstrate what that means for the relevant decision-making body and the population that it serves.

Tip 7: Politics matters

It sounds like an obvious thing to say, but don’t forget that different democratic organisations will have different political priorities. It’s important to tailor your messages accordingly. This is true for both local councils, for example, but also definitely true for the devolved administrations. The politics of the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish governments will be very different to the politics of Westminster!

Tip 8: Councillors can be your best asset

When it comes to influencing local councils, local elected councillors can be incredibly helpful. They are often more accessible and receptive to the issues and concerns of the communities that they serve. They can table members’ questions in Council meetings which can be a good way to raise the profile of an issue (don’t forget that citizens can also ask questions in many Council meetings), as well as often being members of relevant council committees. Connecting with councillors is something best done locally, and ideally in partnership with other local voices.

Tip 9: Don’t forget regions

There can be a temptation to think in terms of national (Westminster or nation) versus local, and to overlook the regional tier. In some aspects of public policy, regions can be really important, and they take a variety of different forms depending on the issue at hand. For example, elected mayors (who often cover a footprint larger than a single traditional local authority), or NHS regions and sub-regions.

Tip 10: Think multi-layer

It’s quite possible that for the issue that you are seeking to influence, there may need to be different action at a number of different layers. For example, you might be pushing the Westminster government to update or amend guidance on a particular issue, while simultaneously wanting the local council which is the intended target of that national guidance to act. Thinking in an integrated and multi-layered way can be a really effective strategy for a lot of issues.

What is your experience of trying to influence decisions at different levels and layers? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

Tag: Local influencing

Using the Freedom of Information Act to influence policy

Subsidiarity and the art of influencing locally