Freedom of Information classics week.
Some stories bear repeating – getting an annual update on school absence fines, reports of missing people, or items smuggled into jails.
Others work well whenever – there’s always going to be a well known local establishment with terrible food hygiene.
Drug-smuggling drones
Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison saw the highest number of drug-smuggling drone incidents in Scotland last year, up more than double on the previous year.
There were nine confirmed drone incidents that resulted in a confirmed drug recovery at Scotland’s biggest prison in 2024, up from four in 2023. HMP Edinburgh, which has 400 fewer prisoners than the Big Hoose, saw eight drug recoveries after drone incidents in 2024, down from 11 in 2023, the Scottish Daily Express reports.
According to a freedom of information (FOI) request, prison officers across Scotland managed to intercept 22 drones in 2024 which were confirmed to include illicit substances. This is a huge rise on the two reported in 2022 and a smaller increase on 2023 which has 18 drones captured by officers.
Recruitment problems
The Scottish Liberal Democrats said data they uncovered shows that local authorities have had to readvertise more than 1,350 teaching posts in the last two years.
This includes a primary school teacher position on Papa Westray – one of the smallest islands in Orkney. At the time the request was made, the position had been vacant since the end of March 2019.
The Lib Dems said the data, uncovered using freedom of information laws, shows Moray Council has had to readvertise 252 teaching roles over the past two years. Aberdeen has had to readvertise 206, Shetland 90, and Argyll and Bute 70.
Outsourcing
Trade union, the GMB said FOI requests to more than 200 health trusts show they spend £1,831,105,580 annually on outsourced contracts.
Almost half the trusts did not respond so the true figure could be far higher. The data shows total annual spend has almost doubled since 2021/22.
School absences
Over the past three academic years, a county council has slapped parents with fines totalling more than £1.6m because their children have missed school.
Hampshire County Council has issued more than 10,000 penalties since 2022, raising £1,666,113 over the three school years since 2021/22, a Freedom of Information request has found.
Hampshire County Council said the increase in fines reflected a rise in absences, both nationally and locally.
Missing people
Cumbria Police has received more than 17,800 reports of missing people since 2020. Of those, 305 were for children under nine years old.
A Freedom of Information request to Cumbria Police has revealed how many missing persons reports have been made over the last five years.
Translation
The most requested language interpretation service at Oxfordshire’s hospitals is not French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese nor Arabic.
Instead, a recent freedom of information request to the Oxfordshire NHS Foundation Trust has revealed that it is Portuguese.
The trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Somerset.
Food hygiene reports
FOI requests for poor food hygiene reports for notable locations are a newspaper staple.
The Iceland store in Kirkby town centre was inspected in February and awarded a hygiene rating of one. The report noted ‘major changes’ would be needed to improve conditions after identifying a number of issues around the store.
After a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Liverpool ECHO was provided with details of the inspection report. It identified a concern around staff training due to the ‘inadequate’ management of food storage, waste disposal and cleaning activities.
Following inspections by Knowsley Council’s environmental health officials, the Morrisons on Telegraph Way was graded with a one star rating on March 10.
After a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Liverpool ECHO was provided with details of the inspection report which confirmed the environment team visited the store following a complaint regarding ‘pest activity’.
Meanwhile, a highly-rated modern Italian restaurant in York has performed poorly in a food hygiene inspection.
This is a more unusual one where the FOI request for more information has been refused, with the council saying release might affect any future action the local authority may take against the restaurant. It would be interesting to see if that would stand up to an internal review/complaint as it’s pretty standard to release such reports.
Farm outbreaks
Tens of thousands of visitors due to attend a UK-wide open farm day this weekend have been warned about a parasitic infection that causes serious gastrointestinal illness.
There were 17 outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis linked to farms in England and Wales in 2024. An outbreak in south Wales earlier this year has seen dozens of people fall ill.
According to inspection reports from the past five years – released to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act – some farms repeatedly ignored health inspectors’ advice and allowed children to handle sick animals in filthy pens.
Image by Rachel Claire on Pexels
