Edinburgh conference marks 250 years of Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information 2016 conference in The Royal Scots Club has been organised by the Scottish Information Commissioner and Holyrood magazine.

Local Government and Housing Minister Kevin Stewart (pictured) addressed the conference on behalf of the Scottish government.

The rest of the day will evaluate how Freedom of Information legislation in Scotland has adapted to meet changes around how information is produced and disseminated in Scotland’s public sector, and the opportunities and challenges associated with these changes.

Carole Ewart, convenor of the Campaign for Freedom of Information Scotland (CFoIS), said: “As Scotland’s eleven-year old FoI law becomes increasingly patchy in coverage and complicated to use, we think it might be instructive to look at the history of FoI in a country with a much longer history of access and information rights.”