Keeping on top of Freedom of Information requests is hard.
I mean for public bodies across the country, rather than just me trying to see what’s overdue in my spreadsheet.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken some more enforcement action in the past couple of months, on top of the notices already issued.
Much of this is around poor response rates and overdue requests. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was answering just 14% of requests in 20 working days at one point.
Conwy Council hasn’t come to the ICO’s attention. But its 54% response rate last year is definitely in the danger zone, though it might escape if it follows Audit Wales’ recommendations.
A lack of FOI staff, poor systems for managing requests, and a lack of understanding about FOI in the organisation are common issues.
It wouldn’t be surprising if seeing FOI as a burden contributes to some public bodies ending up with these problems.
While Shetland Council are doing ok on responding in time, some of their councillors are not happy about the number the get or the prospect of more work if the changes to the Scottish FOI Act pass.
While getting requests about services they don’t have is a timewaster for smaller councils, they still do have services and things they have money on, and sometimes FOI is the only way to get info out of them. One councilor suggests the Scottish Government has used FOI to find out information from the council.
The alternative is to accept FOI requests are coming and be more transparent.
Moray Council has agreed to introduce a new system for publishing the details of elected members’ expenses online, for anyone to view. It reckons the reduction in time spent responding to FOI requests will save up to 40 hours of officer time each year.
No insurance
An FOI story that goes beyond just the numbers in the response and looks at how high insurance costs for some postcodes may drive people to skip buying it (which probably then contributes to higher costs for that area).
Around 2,000 vehicles are seized for having no insurance every year in the Bradford district. Meanwhile a total of 1,077 vehicles were seized for having no tax.
Taxi crimes
Another one where there’s more to the story than just the FOI figures. And it would be interesting to know what Wolverhampton Council is basing its claim that the rate of reports is lower on.
There have been 17 reports of alleged sexual assault or rape against Wolverhampton-licensed private hire drivers in the past three months, it has been revealed. A Freedom Of Information (FOI) by a London-based taxi driver showed nine of the 17 assaults between 11 August and 11 November were related to passengers.
With almost 33,900 private hire vehicles licensed by the local authority on the road this year – 96% of them outside the city – Wolverhampton has been dubbed the “taxi capital” of the UK and criticised by other councils.
A spokesperson for City of Wolverhampton Council said the rate of reports against their drivers was lower than many other licensing authorities.
No free parking
More than 7,000 drivers were caught out by the end of free parking in Liverpool city centre in the first three months of the new scheme.
New data released to the ECHO via a Freedom of Information request has revealed how thousands of tickets were handed out to drivers between August and October this year.
Signage and parking meters were updated across the city centre to reflect the changes to the controlled parking zone (CPZ). As a result, drivers are no longer able to leave their cars on city streets for free after 6pm.
Retail price
The Liverpool Echo using its FOI win to good effect. The Information Commissioner’s Office decided Wirral Council needed to release information about the value of shopping centres it had bought in relation to a previous request. So the paper has made a new request for an updated value.
The Pyramids and the Grange shopping centres in Birkenhead were bought by Wirral Council for £10.5m in 2023.
A new Freedom of Information request by the Liverpool Echo has revealed the council valued the shopping centres at £7.5m in March 2025. This is the same as their value the previous year and represents a £3.06m loss from when they were bought.
Fare evasion
Transport for London officers issued a record-high number of fines for fare evasion during the summer, new figures have revealed.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that between June 22 and July 19, 6,080 fines were issued to individuals travelling without a valid ticket.
The figure reflects a 20% increase since the previous year, when the number of fines during the same month was 5,078.
Christmas lights
Bridgwater Town Council has revealed how much was spent on the Christmas lights in 2025 and 2024.
The information comes after a Freedom of Information request to the council, asking how much has been spent on the lights, as well as the turn-on event.
So far, in 2025, Bridgwater Town Council has spent £20,736 on Christmas lights. This is set to increase to around £35,000, once costs relating to repairs and renewals have been accounted for.
In 2024, the Council spent £35,116.84 on the Christmas lights, and it is expected to cost around the same this year.
Christmas light complaints
But possibly not, as this isn’t a very well put together FOI request.
The Solar Centre submitted Freedom of Information requests to local councils across the country with the aim of identifying the areas with the most complaints about Christmas lighting during the festive season.
Leeds apparently came out on top, with 12.7% of the total nuisance complaints made in the top 10 areas for lighting complaints in the festive months over the past four years.
Are the complaints about Christmas lights? Who knows, they’re just complaints made in November, December, and January. Are complaints higher in those months? Who knows, they didn’t ask. Were there even that many complaints? Who knows, have some percentages. Was Leeds really the highest? Who knows, they may just be the highest of those who answered.
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