Freedom of Information could be getting an update in Scotland.
MSP Katy Clark has introduced the Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament.
Among the things the proposed bill would do are:
Changes introduced by the Bill include:
- make it easier to add public bodies (and those who carry out work on their behalf) to those covered by the FOI Act
- remove the First Minister’s power to override certain decisions of the Scottish Information Commissioner
- require public authorities to proactively publish information
- all public bodies covered by the Act would need to have an FOI officer
- creating a new offence of destroying information so that it cannot be disclosed, even if no request for that information has been made (see concerns about auto-deleting WhatsApps)
Some of the changes would be pretty tiny. An email address would definitely be an address for correspondence under the Act (it’s already treated as such).
It also irons out some annoying aspects. Currently if a public body asks for clarification on a request, then the 20 working day clock doesn’t start until they get clarification. Instead it would now pause. So, previously, if the request for clarification came on day 19, the clock would restart at 1. The change would mean, once clarification was received, there would only be one working day left to respond.
Missing evidence
Thousands of criminal cases – including some of the most serious violent and sexual offences – are collapsing every year because of lost, damaged or missing evidence, the BBC has found.
More than 30,000 prosecutions in England and Wales collapsed between October 2020 and September 2024, data from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reveals. They include 70 homicides and more than 550 sexual offences.
When police forces build cases around defendants they hand a file to the CPS. But when the CPS cannot proceed to trial because police do not have the necessary evidence needed to secure a conviction – they record it in their data as an “E72”.
The BBC, alongside the University of Leicester, managed to obtain Freedom of Information (FOI) requests showing the number of E72s recorded between 2020 and 2024 at police forces in England and Wales.
Bailiffs
Bailiffs have been called to tens of thousands of Derby homes in recent years to collect up to £8 million of council tax debt. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shown Derby City Council referred bailiffs to more than 8,700 cases in the last financial year alone.
The figures have been released at a time when local and national campaigns have called on local authorities to “ban the bailiffs”, with more than 4 million people in the UK reported to be in council tax debt.
Sprinklers
The county council has refused to pledge to install sprinklers in all Derbyshire schools as new figures show there are nine in the county without them. A Freedom of Information request filed to Derbyshire County Council by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that nine council-controlled schools do not have sprinklers.
This comes after Harrington Junior School in Long Eaton was destroyed by a fire in May 2020, with no sprinklers installed to prevent the total loss of the building and disruption to its pupils and staff.
Missing books
About 2,200 items are missing at the National Library of Wales – an increase of 84% in two years.
Among the archives and manuscripts missing are deeds of 13th Century Powis Castle, and “rolls” and “pedigree” documents from Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Conwy county, which twice hosted ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Among missing books are the history of the national library building itself in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, by Daniel Huws, and books by George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.
The number unaccounted for is significantly higher than the 1,200 items that were missing when BBC Wales gained figures through a Freedom of Information request in September 2023. A spokesperson said the increase is due to “new stock checking processes”.
Alternative bridge names
FOI is really helpful for getting a behind the scenes peek into decision making (like finding out alternative names for overground lines).
The full list of names considered for the new bridge at Rickmansworth Aquadrome has been revealed.
Residents were asked to select from a list of five names and the winner, Aquadrome Bridge, was confirmed last month.
The other shortlisted names were Harry Walker Bridge, Ebury Bridge, Colne View Bridge and Ann Shaw Bridge – but they could have been joined by four more.
William Penn Bridge, Batchworth Lake Bridge, George Eliot Bridge, and Barbara Owen Bridge were all considered but did not make into the final shortlist that could be voted on by residents, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
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