FOI question of the week via Tim Turner: is information about a cupboard personal data?
Background: The Sunday Times, back in 2022, reported on a custom built wardrobe placed in the No 10 chief-of-staff’s office. As happens when things get bought, someone sent an FOI asking for the cost and information about the make/brand.
The Cabinet Office argued this information was personal information (Section 40 exemption). The ICO disagreed when the complaint reached them.
The Decision Notice is very sparse, mostly because the Cabinet Office set out its arguments in a confidential annex, which has now been released.
It’s argument was broadly the information (about the existence of a wardrobe) was connected to someone, therefore it was personal information.
The ICO took the view that the information requested was about the wardrobe: “In this case, the individual had no
involvement in the selection or purchase of the wardrobe, and its installation in the office provides no more biographical detail about the individual other than that they were based in a government office that was furnished with a wardrobe.”
Temporary accommodation
For hotel chains including Travelodge and Premier Inn, temporary accommodation has opened up a new line of business. Greenwich’s local authority spent £8.8m on Travelodge hotels in 2023–24, placing more than 700 households, according to FOI requests. Kensington and Chelsea spent £3.5m on Travelodge over the same period. Ealing has supported 407 households in Travelodge hotels, while Barnet has placed 300. Data for the total spend at these councils was unavailable.
Outside London, it is also a growing concern. FOIs reveal that Derby had 143 households in Travelodge sites and 133 in Premier Inn in 2023–24. Leicester City council spent £5m on Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn, placing more than 600 households in their hotels that year.
Autism diagnosis
Children and adults seeking an autism diagnosis in England are up to almost seven times more likely to receive one in some NHS foundation trusts than others, according to research.
Freedom of information requests by the charity Autistica revealed that positive assessments in children ranged from 100% of those evaluated by one trust to just 18% in another. In adults the figures ranged from 97% to 14%.
The findings came from requests to all 42 NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) in England and 120 providers of NHS autism services in March 2024.
Clean air zones
The number of hospital admissions for children with severe breathing problems fell by 22% in Birmingham’s clean air zone while increasing by 16% in hospitals outside the zone in the first full year since the pollution measures were introduced.
The figures, obtained by freedom of information requests sent to hospitals in Birmingham, have prompted campaigners to call for an expansion of the clean air zone to cover the entire city and include a wider range of vehicles.
Speed cameras
Wales’ most prolific speed camera has been revealed via a new Freedom of Information request. Solicitors, Legal Expert, have compiled a map of the speed cameras which catch the most drivers breaking the law, with three of the top 20 in Wales.
From the information provided, the most prolific camera across the UK was on the A38 in Sutton in Ashfield, Nottingham, which caught 72 drivers a day on average. In Wales, the A48, Usk Way in Newport was the highest, issuing on average 24 fines a day. The information suggested that the A48 Western Avenue, Cardiff caught an average of 22 cars a day, while the A470 Northern Avenue caught 17.
Whatsapp messages
Humza Yousaf called a senior lawyer a “Tory f**kwit” in a private WhatsApp conversation with Jason Leitch during the pandemic, it has emerged.
The former first minister, who was health secretary at the time, said he regretted the language used about Roddy Dunlop KC, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates.
But Mr Dunlop told The Scotsman he found it “quite amusing” and did not take offence.
The message is contained in a tranche of WhatsApp conversations released to a member of the public, Peter Todd, following a Freedom of Information request.
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