Sending an Freedom of Information request is great. Not having to send one because the information you want is already available is also great.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has put together some tips for requesters for searching for the information they want before they send a request – to hopefully save them a 20 working day wait and a Section 21 refusal.
ICO research found FOI officers were finding their caseload often consisted of requests for information that is already available. Obviously this one goes both ways – it’s not fun trying to find available information on impenetrable websites.
Want to save yourself some time and and grab some data without an FOI? Check out these seven datasets.
Care home crime
Data obtained by Legal Expert from sending Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests to police forces across the country showed the number of offences recorded in these settings in West Yorkshire is the highest it has been for five years.
There were 2,090 crimes recorded last year (2023/24) throughout the county’s care homes and nursing homes. The figures have soared by almost 70 per cent from 2019/20, when 1,243 crimes were recorded in these types of settings.
By far the most common offence was “violence against a person”, accounting for 60 per cent of all recorded crimes, with 2,705 instances of this. Arson and criminal damage were the second most prevalent, with 483 on record since 2019.
Reading Festival
More than 60 sexual assaults have taken place at Reading Festival over the last five years – but these incidents have lead to only 14 arrests, according to figures shared with The Reading Chronicle.
For the years 2021 to 2023, there were 52 reports of sexual assaults at the festival – with just three reports leading to prosecutions.
Car theft hotspots
New figures obtained by BirminghamLive have revealed exactly where most cars are stolen. And there is one well-known location in the West Midlands where thieves strike most often. This is Ikea in Wednesbury.
Visited by thousands of people every year, it’s one of the most popular shopping spots in the region. Its massive car park is usually packed during peak times.
A total of 44 vehicles were reported stolen at or close to Ikea over the last 12 months, freedom of information data showed. It makes it by far the most likely locations for cars to be nicked.
Long waits
Some Scots have been waiting for more than six years to start mental health treatment. The freedom of information request found that in 2023-24, patients at three health boards – Grampian, Highland and Tayside – waited more than 1,000 days to start mental health treatment.
The longest wait of 2,502 days was in Tayside. This is more than six years and ten months. Patients in NHS Highland waited 2,268 days – over six years and two months. In Grampian they waited 1,043 days – some two years and ten months.
In Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Shetland, Ayrshire & Arran, Dumfries & Galloway and Orkney, people waited between 500-1,000 days to start mental health treatment.
Probate disputes
Family fallouts over inheritance are on the rise with more challenges at the early hurdle of obtaining probate, which unlocks an estate so it can be distributed.
More than 10,000 applications to stop probate being granted were made last year, up 14 per cent on 2022 and 43 per cent higher than the year before the pandemic, according to new figures.
The number of applications to enter a ‘caveat’ against probate – which lasts for six months at first, but can be extended – has fluctuated over the years but is at its highest for at least a decade.
A change of name
Transport for London (TfL) was paid £500,000 for temporarily changing the names of two tube stations, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
London’s transport body changed the names of two of its stations to promote brand campaigns. Most recently, it changed Old Street Station into ‘Fold Street Station’ as part of a collaboration with Samsung during the launch of a series of flip and fold phones.
This came months after TfL temporarily renamed Bond Street as ‘Burberry Street’ during London Fashion Week in September 2023.
Image by Artem Velychko on Pexels
