Good news, bad news FOI-wise this week.
On the positive side, Ben Worthy has been looking at the ways in which FOI works. Broadly, it’s popular – more than one in 10 people have now made an FOI request, and a survey in Scotland found 97% supported the idea of accessing information.
This is probably why most FOI requests are to local government (and about the things that affect people in their day to day life). If ‘the real value of FOI is in the pages of local newspapers’, then this blog likes to do plenty of celebrating that.
However, FOI still seems to be under threat with those who are not as positive about the importance of transparency and accessing information.
The BBC has been reporting on the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) central referral unit (CRU) that has advised police forces not to reveal information on topics including the use of banned surveillance software and the spread of super-strength drugs.
A reminder: I’m running a FREE training session on Tuesday, March 18 between 7pm and 8pm (GMT) doing an intro to the Freedom of Information Act in the UK. I’ll be going through what the Act is, how to make a request and the things you can do if you don’t get a useful answer.
If this is of interest, you can sign up for the training here (there will also be a recording available if you’re interested but can’t make it to the live session).
Long A&E waits
More than a thousand elderly people from greater Glasgow were forced to wait over 12 hours for treatment in A&E, according to the latest data.
A Freedom of Information Request found that 1,308 people aged over 85 waited over half a day in emergency departments in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It is understood that the waits affected 8.7% of all over 85s who attended A&E during 2024.
Vandalism in schools
“Creative” yet “offensive” graffiti on a stairwell was among the mindless acts of vandalism contributing to a significant repair bill for some schools in the Inverness area over a three-year period.
Data on the costs of vandalism, weather-related and other damage obtained through a Freedom of Information request reveals the financial burden – just under £635,000 from mid-September 2021 to mid-September 2024 for more than 50 schools.
Tube station accidents
Almost 14,000 injuries (non-fatal) have been recorded on the Underground, DLR and Elizabeth Line by Transport for London since 2020. Favourite commuter and tourist stations Waterloo and Kings Cross were among the most injury-prone locations, a Freedom of Information Request has revealed.
Slips, trips and falls were responsible for over 8,000 of the close to 14,000 non-fatal injuries at London stations. Escalators appear to be the most problematic for passengers, causing over 4,500 injuries.
TfL also had to reckon with over 1,700 stair injuries in the last five years. 47 people also hurt themselves at TfL toilets and 3 even on the roof of Underground stations.
AI cheating
More than 600 Scottish students were accused of misusing AI during part of their studies last year – a rise of 121% on 2023 figures.
According to a freedom of information request by BBC Scotland, less than 10 students were kicked off their courses at both Robert Gordon and Glasgow universities in the last year – the first time AI-linked expulsions have been recorded at any Scottish university.
Image by Martin Damboldt on Pexels
