Complain to the ICO about your overdue Freedom of Information request!
Because it actually works.
Kevin Robinson-Hale asked what he said was a “simple” set of questions about funding repairs to his local library in Liverpool back in 2021, and had not received an answer, despite reminding the council it had failed to respond in the legally required 20-day period.
Liverpool Council was issued with an enforcement notice last month because of its slow response times. This was after it failed to make improvements after being given a practice notice in response to 46 complaints to the ICO in a year.
So instead of buying your overdue request a 4th birthday card, just make a complaint to the ICO when it’s a couple of weeks past due. This is an area of enforcement that is actually getting enforced.
Meanwhile in the continuing Australian FOI saga, we may have a new world record for sending FOI requests.
Cam Wilson at Crikey News is setting the bar at 17 in four hours as a first attempt, and is keen for others to get in on the FOI action and try and beat that. (On that one, we might need some agreement on what constitutes an FOI request, as any round robin definitely involves more requests being logged but for the same question).
Sometimes It’s not initially clear where you’d FOI for the information you’re looking for.
West Ham United supporters group Hammers United organised a boycott of a home game against against Brentford in protest at the running of the club. They said fewer than 40,000 supporters were in the London Stadium come kick-off – and a Freedom of Information request will verify that estimate.
From social media, it appears the request has gone to Newham Council. While councils (and police) may not be regularly collecting match attendance figures, this does seem to be information that some hold.
PTSD
A police chief has shared how “incredibly challenging” working in the force can be after recent figures showed 211 officers in Dorset were signed off last year.
Chris Wood, chair of the Dorset Police Federation, said he has had to take time off for stress and also revealed his wife, a serving police officer, is currently off with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Freedom of Information figures from Dorset Police showed 211 officers had been signed off due to stress, depression, anxiety or PTSD in 2024/25.
Prison staff up to no good
Figures published by the Ministry of Justice show that the number of staff dismissed for misconduct has doubled, from 181 in 2022 to 397 in 2024.
The dismissals include cases of prison officers for smuggling contraband into jails or having sexual relationships with inmates. Further reported cases have involved prison staff illegally accessing confidential information. Many of the cases did not just lead to dismissal but also to prosecution.
The Ministry of Justice said the figures, released in response to a Freedom of Information request, do not so much indicate an increase in illegal and illicit incidents as its success in identifying offences with a strengthened anti-corruption unit, and its determination to see that those responsible are punished appropriately.
Medication incidents
Potentially deadly ‘incidents’ involving medication are being reported once every day and a half, worrying new data has revealed.
A Freedom of Information Request revealed that since 2020, there have been 1,216 recorded incidents of errors, near misses or incidents involving kids under the age of 16 at NHS Glasgow hospitals. Of these, six were deemed to have caused major illness or injury leading to intensive care or surgical intervention.
Ambulance waits
Labour has accused the SNP of “dangerous incompetence” after figures revealed more than a third of ambulances are spending longer than an hour waiting outside hospitals.
The statistics, obtained by Scottish Labour via a Freedom of Information request, show that so far in 2025, 33.6% of ambulances had turnaround times of more than 60 minutes.
The proportion of ambulances with turnaround times of more than an hour has increased year-on-year since 2020, when the figure stood at just 6.4%.
Potholes! (but fewer than expected)
When you get your FOI response back, make sure you check it says what you think it does. Between unclear requests and interesting interpretations of questions, sometimes it’s not quite the information you expected.
Reform UK claims that there were “22 potholes per mile” along Derbyshire roads were based on misunderstood information, it has been confirmed.
The claim was made during Reform’s first meeting in charge of Derbyshire Council. Across a 3,361-mile road network. that would be 73,942 potholes across the county. But council statistics in April – one month before Reform took office – showed a backlog of more than 16,000 potholes requiring repairs. The council said it has carried out 26,187 since April and the backlog will be down to 3,000.
Cllr Charlotte Hill, Reform’s cabinet member for potholes, highways and transport, has now said her claim at May’s first Reform full council was based on Freedom of Information request figures which referenced reports of potholes, not individual potholes.
Long waits for assessments
Scottish children and young people have been forced to wait for more than 1,000 days to secure autism and ADHD assessments.
In September, The Herald sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to each of Scotland’s 14 regional NHS boards to ascertain how many children are waiting to be assessed, and how long they are waiting.
And in Wales, Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd Mabon ap Gwynfor queried neurodiversity waiting lists in North Wales, with the First Minister Eluned Morgan pointing to a ‘surge’ across the UK for neurodiversity assessments.
The First Minister said the Welsh Goverment had ended four-year waits for neurodevelopmental assessments for children, with plans to eliminate three-year waits by March 2026.
However, Mr ap Gwynfor said: “In my case, I have seen parents coming in to surgeries and coming in to the office in tears because they have 11-year-old children who are self-harming, and some trying to take their own lives, because they have not had the necessary diagnosis and support.
“Now, unlike the data that you have just quoted, the data that I have received through an FOI shows that there are over 7,000 children and young people in north Wales waiting for an assessment.
“With around 40 assessments only done every month in north Wales, that means that it will take around 15 years to get through that waiting list for autism and neurodiversity in north Wales.”
Data breaches
Sensitive personal data – including fingerprints and medical details – has been compromised in a series of Police Scotland data breaches reported over the past six years.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by data protection specialists at LSS revealed that 10 breaches were reported by the force to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) during that period. The incidents affected both members of the public and police staff.
No seatbelts
More than 400 fines have been issued to young drivers for not wearing seatbelts in the past year, according to data from Humberside Police.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request was sent to police forces across the UK to find out how many fines were being issued for the offence to young people between the ages of 17-29.
The FOI request was made by Scrap Car Comparison as part of a campaign to raise awareness around the importance of seatbelts.
Fare evasion
Making good use of the fact a growing number of train companies are now subject to FOI.
An estimated £45.5m of annual revenue is being lost from passengers not paying for tickets, South Western Railway (SWR) has said.
The data was released after a campaign group submitted a Freedom of Information request to SWR, which said the overall rate of ticketless travel was about 3.9%.
Double yellow lines
The AA are very sweet to think drivers would totally not park on yellow lines, if only there was some kind of alternative (a few minutes walk away, in a clearly signposted car park, they’ve already chosen not to use).
UK motorists were hit with 1.6 million fines for illegally parking on yellow lines in 2024, according to new data.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests sent by the AA to all UK councils found that 1.6 million penalty change notices (PCNs) were issued for illegal parking on single or double yellow lines in 2024.
More than half a million of those PCNs were from 10 councils, five of which were London boroughs.
Graffiti
The number of graffiti removals in Barnsley has almost tripled in two years, as the council expands its clean-up team and invests in new equipment.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show 773 graffiti removals were carried out in 2024/25, compared with 265 in 2022/23.
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