The Cabinet Office is at it again (Freedom of Information-wise).
An FOI from Democracy for Sale found the Cabinet Office spent £32,000 on lawyers to avoid releasing a blank sheet of paper.
In early 2023, former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was sacked as Conservative party chairman for failing to declare his tax affairs were under HMRC investigation. The BBC used FOI to ask for a blank copy of the ministerial interests form he was meant to have filled in.
The Cabinet Office refused, claiming disclosure could harm “the effective conduct of public affairs.” The Information Commissioner disagreed and ordered the release.
The Cabinet Office appealed to the first tier tribunal, at a now revealed cost of £32,000. It lost as the judge said there was a “strong public interest” in understanding how these declarations work.
Domestic abuse
Almost half of those arrested for race hate disorder in Belfast last August had previously been reported to the PSNI for domestic abuse.
The police data, obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request by investigative website The Detail, highlights a significant overlap between public violent disorder and domestic violence.
Young carers
Hundreds of thousands of young carers could be missing out on vital support because they are not registered with their local authority, according to new data seen by Sky News.
A Freedom of Information request, carried out by the charity Action for Children and shared with Sky News, has found that 84,256 young carers are known to local authorities in England and Wales.
The number is a fraction of the potential 800,000 young carers thought to be helping a loved one in England alone, according to a University of Nottingham study. It means that around 90% of young carers could be missing out on statutory help.
Missing from mental health care
Mental health patients were reported missing 122 times in the last 12 months from Blackpool’s mental health hospital, The Harbour, it was revealed.
The figures can be made public after a Freedom of Information Request (FOI), which also uncovered the alarming number of assaults on staff at The Harbour in Preston New Road.
Transport to school
Over £5m was spent transporting children with special educational needs and disabilities to school by Rochdale council last year.
This eye-watering sum has more than doubled in five years, according to a Freedom of Information request (FOI) submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Rochdale Council spent £5,42,317 in 2024/25 funding transport for SEND children, up from £2,678,080 in 2020/21.
A big reason for this jump in spending is higher cost of taxis and transport as well as more children being classed as SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), according to town hall bosses. Due to shortage in special needs school places and some complex needs requiring more specialist educational facilities, some children need to be transported out of the borough – at a higher cost to the local authority.
Covid loans
More than £22m in Covid-related loans from the Scottish government to football clubs remained outstanding at the end of the last financial year, it has been revealed following a Guardian freedom of information request on the eve of a new Scottish Premiership season.
Eleven clubs, then all in the top flight, opted to take interest-free loans totalling £25.26m in 2021 to assist with business recovery from the pandemic.
Emergency repairs
Emergency repairs to council-owned buildings have cost Oxfordshire County Council more than £86,000 over the course of three years.
The Central Library at the Westgate, the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock and offices at County Hall were among those in need of emergency repairs, as well as other libraries, fire stations, schools and care homes across the country.
There were 797 instances between the start of 2023 and the end of June this year, a Freedom of Information request has shown.
The reasons for the repairs include fire safety, accidental damage, storm damage, safety and vandalism.
Rats!
Camden, Islington and Brent borough councils had the highest number of rat infestations reported in London from 2023 to mid-2025, according to data obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
Camden had the highest report, with 9,133 rat infestations during the period, followed by 6,567 in Islington and 6,523 in Brent.
Hot buses
Complaints about London buses being too hot have reached their highest level on record.
There have already been 276 complaints this year, up from 155 last year and 149 in 2023, Freedom of information figures show. There were 51 in the second half of 2022.
Although more than 6,000 London buses have air-cooling systems, according to Transport for London (TfL), most are not air-conditioned.
TfL, which only keeps figures for three years, said the data “should be viewed in the context of the 1.8 billion bus journeys that are made in London each year”.
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