Matt Burgess, the man behind FOI Directory (and the former editor of Help Me Investigate Education) has launched a new weekly email newsletter providing regular updates on developments in Freedom of Information and transparency.

Burgess says that Transparency Bulletin is intended to be:

“One email containing the week’s most important issues relating to openness and transparency of UK government bodies, councils, police, officials, private businesses and everything in-between. As well as rounding-up the most important news reports from the week (with a touch of analysis and cynicism where it is required)

“It is also summarising the views of those who work in their individual fields and blog about the latest developments in their areas of expertise. The overall aim is to encourage those with an interest in transparency and privacy to see what others are doing in similar areas.”

The first edition of the newsletter (available at the newsletter archive) covered subjects including the automatic deletion of emails by the Cabinet Office, the latest figures on FOI request numbers and possible extensions to the FOI Act in Scotland, as well as roundups of stories using FOI, events and developments in transparency and open data.

Burgess says the newsletter has already has over 100 sign-ups in its first week including journalists and academics.

Matt’s book on FOI is also out this week which I’ll blog about separately,  and he is running a masterclass on FOI in October.