Freedom of Information is a New Year staple.
Partly because it’s pretty handy for stories during the quieter period while everyone’s on holiday. There’s some ideas in here that’ll always work as a stand-by for a quiet news week.
But also because the FOI Act is a bit of a feature in the annual release of documents by the National Archives. The 20-year rule for releases takes us back to the early days of the Act.
One of the newly-declassified files reveals Downing Street refused to release details of a conversation between Tony Blair and French president Jacques Chirac following the death in Paris of Diana, Princess of Wales.
While other official documents relating to Diana’s death and the arrangements for her funeral were released under the FOI Act, this one was ruled out as “fundamentally not in the public interest” because it could “limit the frankness” of future conversations between world leaders.
Martin Rosenbaum has a round-up of what else is in the files. Including discussion of one of his early FOI requests (including a note they claimed they didn’t have at the time but which has made a miraculous return in this release).
FOI should be faster
That’s according to a a Cumbrian MP ( I don’t disagree).
Markus Campbell-Savours, Member of Parliament for Penrith and Solway has said the public should be able to access information from organisations like the police force more quickly. In a Parliamentary session in November, he called for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to be held to account by MPs on “weak” enforcement.
It’s possibly the criticism is a little unfair. If there’s one thing the ICO is doing better on, it’s tackling slow responding public bodies. It seems to have streamlined the system for ‘encouraging’ them to get late responses sent (it even issues decision notices without asking) and is now actually doing something about repeated complaints.
In other end of the year, start of the next things, Cherwell has done a round-up of its FOI year. Featuring £17,000 for new grass, thousands of parcels delivered and fines for streaming or downloading content illegally on the uni WiFi network.
This week’s FOI stories…
Unpaid Council Tax
The current Lord Mayor of Bradford had to be reminded about a missed council tax payment two years ago, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal.
Bradford Council was forced to disclose the information after the T&A sent an appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Housing waiting lists
An interesting one as quite a few councils appear to be swapping to new housing allocation systems this new year. (Also, this is data that is published, but generally only as of March 31 each year).
Figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) through freedom of information requests show that at least 44,887 applications remain on waiting lists for some form of social housing across the North East.
Northumberland County Council’s 12,275 is the largest housing register, though the authority signed off plans last month to slash that by more than half.
The Tory-run council will delete the 7,088 people currently in the lowest priority Band 3, who councillors argue have no realistic chance of getting a property as they do not have an “identified housing need”.
Oversubscribed
Hundreds of children in Northampton missed out on a place at their preferred school for September 2025, new figures show, as demand once again outstripped supply at several of the town’s most popular schools.
Data released by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Chronicle & Echo shows that 217 secondary school pupils and 42 primary-age children were not offered a place at any of their top three school choices.
Zero-rated
The type of story that can be handy to have ready if nothing is happening in your area post-Christmas. Though it might put people off getting a takeaway (apparently not everyone still has a fridge half-full of cheese).
Nine businesses in Wirral currently have zero food hygiene ratings, the worst possible.
From foul-smelling chicken to dirty spoons to mice and maggots, the grim findings of Wirral Council environmental health inspectors have been revealed following a Freedom of Information request.
Old equipment
Hospitals have been using artificial intelligence to cut waiting times this winter, however freedom of information requests have shown that other pieces of kit are desperately in need of upgrading.
According to data uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, some 1,685 hospital beds in Yorkshire and the Humber are more than a decade old, while 103 X-ray machines are also over 10 years old.
Of those beds, 59 are more than 20 years old and there are nine X-ray machines in use that have been in place for at least two decades.
Released in error
Violent criminals, weapons thugs and drug users are among the prisoners released by mistake from Scotland’s jails – with one con at large for more than a year, new figures reveal.
Five prisoners liberated by accident enjoyed freedom for more than 100 days with one not returned to jail for a staggering 367 days.
The data obtained by The Scottish Sun under Freedom of Information legislation sheds new light on the blunders that sparked a wave of criticism.
Rats
Cuts to council cleaning budgets have led to a “horrifying” rise in rat sightings around Scotland, Scottish Labour has said.
According to figures obtained by the party through a freedom of information request, councils last year received 19,752 complaints about rats.
That was an increase of around 35% on the number they received in 2021/22.
Break-ins
Norfolk police have been called out to the Old Library in the city several times since the restaurant there closed.
A Freedom of Information request, lodged by the Eastern Daily Press, shows the police have had to respond to seven reports at 4A Guildhall Hill in Norwich since 2019. The incidents have ranged from nuisance reports, of which there were two in 2020, to a burglary, which happened this year.
However, records show the police were not called out at all to the vacant site in the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. It comes as this newspaper also revealed Norwich City Council, which owns the building, has coughed up more than £80,000 on the site in the same time.
Noisy places
Chronicle & Echo submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to West Northamptonshire Council asking which streets in Northampton have received the highest number of noise complaints this year.
Nesbitt Close in Weston Favell, a wealthy cul-de-sac of around 10 large detached properties, tops the chart with 17 complaints, followed by Clarence Avenue in Queens Park with 16.
The council has officially warned the residents of Nesbitt Close that their noise is breaking the rules. They now have to fix the problem or face further action.
Abandoned vehicles
Hundreds of ‘abandoned vehicles’ were reported to North Ayrshire Council across 2025, including one which was left for 72 days.
The information can be revealed following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made to North Ayrshire Council by Ayrshire Weekly Press.
This showed that details of 270 vehicles were passed onto the local authority by concerned members of the public between the start of the year and November 18.
A further 12 caravans, which are not considered to be a vehicle, were also reported to North Ayrshire Council during the 321 day period – meaning the matter was raised on a near daily basis.
Compulsory purchases
More than £11m has been spent by HS2 compulsory purchasing properties between Birmingham and Leeds after Boris Johnson cancelled the eastern leg to Yorkshire in 2021, Freedom of Information requests show.
Rishi Sunak axed the final northern leg of the high-speed rail line between the West Midlands and Manchester in October 2023.
However, it has now emerged that HS2 continued buying up homes on both the planned routes long after those sections were cancelled.
HS2 said it was honouring property purchases started before the cancellations and they “inevitably take time to complete”.
Danger dogs
THE rise of status dogs and animals being trained to “dangle from branches with their teeth” could account for the number of dangerous dogs in Bradford, a community figure has said.
More than 180 dogs have been seized over the past four years after being classed as dangerous. The figures were revealed in a Freedom of Information Request submitted by the T&A to West Yorkshire Police.
Meanwhile, North Wales Police has spent over half a million on housing dangerous dogs over the last year, figures show.
Freedom of Information request data released by the force shows it spent £559,680.75 between February 2024 and December 2025 on housing dangerous dogs at three undisclosed kennel sites.
Bus lane fines
Seven local authorities in the North East generated at least £2.1m through issuing the fines from January to December.
The largest benefactors, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests, were Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland councils, with a combined total of 63,154 fines issued across the three authorities.
Newcastle City Council has raised the most in bus lanes fines, totalling more than £760,000 via 26,826 fines across the year.
Speeding
This year’s worst roads for speeding in Leicestershire have been revealed after a recent freedom of information request. Latest figures from Leicestershire Police have revealed the roads on which drivers sped the most from Wednesday, January 1, to Tuesday, November 18.
In total, 40,905 speeding notices were issued by cameras within the 11 month period. The most notices were issued on the A6 St Margarets Way/ Ravensbridge Drive, with 9,149 drivers caught speeding on the road near Abbey Park.
Potholes
Pretty much a hat-trick for FOI classics this week (and at least this one managed to send the request to the right number of public bodies).
Pothole compensation claims have spiked by 90% in three years. Up to 53,015 claims were submitted to 177 local authorities in 2024, compared with 27,731 claims in 2021, according to analysis by the RAC.
The RAC described the overall increase since 2021 as “concerning”, but noted that the 2024 total represented a 6% decline from 56,655 in 2023.
Some 177 out of 207 councils in Britain responded to Freedom of Information requests by the motoring services company.
Sculptures in storage
A blacksmith who made the ‘metal trees’ public artwork believes it is a ‘failure’ for them to be languishing in storage rather than on display.
Kevin Baldwin, of the company Designs on Metal, spoke to the Bury Free Press about the sculptures – also referred to as alliums and dandelions – that were installed in St Andrew’s Street South, in Bury St Edmunds, in 2015.
The two metal trees, which cost about £20,000 and were funded by the arc Shopping Centre developer, were removed the following year after being struck by vehicles and have been in storage ever since.
West Suffolk Council’s efforts to find them a home at the Tollgate Triangle were not progressed following a lack of support from councillors. A Freedom of Information (FOI) response to a request by Suffolk News revealed a total of six locations were considered by the council but not pursued for a number of reasons.
Image by Guzel Sadykova on Pexels
