It’s a bit good news/bad news FOI-wise this week.

Martin Rosenbaum scored a tribunal victory. It ordered the release of the secret citations former prime minister Boris Johnson sent to the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) for the peerages awarded to Charlotte Owen and Ross Kempsell in his resignation honours list in June 2023.

However, the Scottish Government has come in for some more criticism from the Scottish Information Commissioner – this time for a media statement it put out defending itself when releasing information after losing an FOI battle in court (this seems to be a thing).

The Scottish Information Commissioner had already slammed the Scottish Government for going ahead with an FOI appeal it was unlikely to lose. Now legal advice on the appeal has been published, with legal counsel saying the court was “more likely than not to refuse the appeal”.

But, in transparency good news, Scottish government ministers and staff are to be banned from using WhatsApp for official business.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes made the announcement, saying her government was committed to “standards of openness, transparency, and accountability”.

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Unmarked graves

A councillor for the area where a mass grave containing the bodies of about 300 stillborn and miscarried babies was found is calling for the government to create a national memorial.

The unmarked burial site in Oldham, Greater Manchester, was discovered in September by a woman who was searching for the graves of her twin brothers who died in 1962.

Before the 1980s, the bodies of stillborn and miscarried babies were often taken away by hospital workers from families who were not given any details of their resting place.

Independent councillor Maggie Hurley said it had been confirmed so far that the bodies of at least 89,000 miscarried or stillborn babies had been buried in mass graves around the country, following Freedom of Information requests.

Student loans

The highest outstanding student debt in the UK has topped more than £250,000, figures obtained by Money show. One student now owes £252,554, a record high labelled “truly alarming” by the National Union of Students.

Meanwhile, the largest cumulative repayment a graduate has made is more than £137,000, while one plan holder has accrued more than £64,000 in interest alone.

And, as of the end of September, more than 2.2 million people had an outstanding loan balance of more than £50,000.

XL bully dogs

More than 100 dangerous dogs a month on average have been destroyed since XL bullies were banned nearly a year ago, the BBC has learned.

Police forces in England and Wales say the costs of kennelling thousands of seized dogs, often for months at a time, have risen sixfold to £25m a year and many facilities were at capacity.

But in many areas dog attacks show no sign of falling. Of the 25 police forces that responded to BBC Freedom of Information Act requests, 22 said they were on course to see more reported incidents this year.

Social media crime

Figures released by West Mercia Police showed that more than 560 arrests were made relating to social media posts between 2018 and 2023.

Information obtained in a Freedom of Information request showed that there were 569 arrests made relating to social media posts in those five years – with the highest recorded numbers being 110 in both 2020 and 2023.

Only 33.2% of the arrests made were charged. However, almost 80% of those charges lead to convictions (26.5% of arrests).

Noise complaints

Figures obtained by the Greenock Telegraph under Freedom Of Information (FOI) show the most common noise complaint is about barking dogs (319), followed by loud music (282), and general anti-social behaviour (154).

Other complaints were about noisy appliances (78), construction work, (72), faulty alarms (53), DIY work and repairs (50), and people’s laminate flooring (44).

There were also 62 complaints from members of the public about noise from places of entertainment such as pubs or night spots.

Less common complaints were about birds, musical instruments, smokers standing outside pubs, aircraft and one street trader.

The FOI report shows that 1446 complaints were received by Inverclyde Council between 2019 and 2024.

Wood fires

Complaints to councils over smoke pollution coming from wood burners have rocketed in the past 12 months – but no one has been prosecuted.

Trendy open fires have been making a comeback in recent years –with around 10 per cent of households burning wood.

But research by parents’ campaign group Mums for Lungs has found that complaints have hit 5,608 a year to local councils who responded to freedom of information requests.

But despite more than 100 complaints every week, there have been just four fines of around £300.

Black Friday

Not that one, the British tradition (where everyone goes out on the last Friday before Christmas and gets really drunk).

Last year, Black Eye Friday was on December 22. Devon and Cornwall Police recorded 122 arrests that day.

That made it only the fourth busiest day for the force that month. Wednesday, December 20 saw the most arrests with 136 in total.

That was followed by Saturday December 30 with 129, and Saturday December 23 with 124. Some of those arrests could have come after midnight by people out on Black Eye Friday though.

Police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland made a total of 3,300 arrests on Black Eye Friday. That’s more arrests than on any day throughout the month.

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