Local authority handling of Freedom of Information requests: lessons from a research project

The purpose of this article is to report on early findings from a wide scale research project which relies on the effectiveness freedom of information provisions in order to obtain data. If freedom of information legislation does not function to ensure disclosures by public authorities, the research data necessary for the research would either not be available or would be much more difficult to obtain. In making FOIA requests, the authors hope to map the use of whistleblowing disclosures within a complex regulatory landscape, involving both local authorities and national regulators.