Instead of cutting Freedom of Information cost limits, should they be more generous?
Jump to this week’s Freedom of Information stories…
Currently public bodies don’t have to answer requests if it will take longer than 24 hours (for central government) or 18 hours (other public bodies) to find and retrieve the information asked for.
The Society of Radiographers (SoR) and the Occupational Safety and Health All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) have sent a joint letter to Health Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for the cost limit to be lifted.
They say the limit is making it difficult to access information about asbestos-related risks.
Rhys Martin, the SoR health and safety policy officer, said: “Asbestos should have no place in our hospitals. The UK accounts for one of the highest age-adjusted mortality rates globally for mesothelioma [a type of lung cancer that can be caused by exposure to asbestos] and healthcare workers are on the front line treating those affected by it.
“The call for a change in policy on FOI requests is designed to enable us, as a union movement, to access information to equip us with the evidence to push forward the argument that planned, safe removal of asbestos from every healthcare building is imperative.”
Is the cost limit the main problem?
The press release might be undermining the argument a little by saying “the current limit prevents government departments from responding to requests that would cost more than £450 to fulfill”. As pointed out above, central government has a £600 limit (with the cost fixed at £25 an hour).
The cost limit may not always be a blocker, if requests can be refined or cut down. But that’s more time-consuming and some information (depending on how it’s held) may still not be accessible.
SOR and the APPG are right that important information shouldn’t be inaccessible. But this might be a call for greater transparency beyond FOI.
Also I can’t see a government that was recently floating cutting the cost limit embracing increasing or even scrapping the cost limit instead.
Spending transparency is good
Procurement card transactions often contain eye-catching stuff. And any big enough organisation will be spending on plenty of random things (the cards are mostly there to quickly pay for smaller unplanned things).
An FOI from Reform UK for details on procurement card transactions between May and June discovered the Welsh Government splashed out thousands of pounds on luxury visits such as trips to the Cannes Film Festival , whisky tasting in France, and on campervans at festivals.
However, Owen Williams at Nation Cymru is scathing about the value of Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf MS Cai Parry-Jones’ FOI revelations.
He said: “The first thing you should know is that the spending was already public. Welsh Government publishes procurement card transactions above £500 on its website as standard (seriously, just Google “Welsh Government procurement card transactions”). What Sherlock Parry-Jones had obtained through his FOI request were additional explanations of what the purchases were actually for.”
Is this spending that unreasonable?
Mr Williams points out the Welsh Government includes 5,500 civil servants with responsibilities across a range of devolved areas. That might involve spending some money.
The £523.19 spend on whiskey was for a business engagement event in France, designed to promote Wales as a destination for inward investment. Two tickets to the event in Cannes, costing £618.42, were for Marché du Film, a huge marketplace for international film production, financing and distribution, where promoting Wales’ creative industry might be a good idea.
Unlike Gwent Police, the Welsh Government doesn’t seem to be investing in unusual vehicles. The camper vans were hires, costing £682.47 and £622.52, for promotional content production at CAMP VC and the Big Love music festival. If the Welsh Government managed to return them in good condition, £400 of that spend was refundable deposits.
If this is waste, it’s a drop in the ocean in a wider budget. It’s the kind of thing that quite easily gets deprioritised when budgets get tight. There’s an argument here for greater transparency (look, I’m always going to make that argument). Publishing more details makes the spend clearer, publishing smaller amounts makes things more trackable (those deposit returns probably wouldn’t be published if they happened).
The bigger problem in terms of money being wasted is likely to be things like the decision that could have been taken but gets delayed for weeks while people are having to chase rather than making progress, the meeting involving layers of senior staff who didn’t need to be there, work by outside contractors that was expensive but of questionable quality, policy and plans lacking a clear aim that may or may not achieve much as a result.
But a lot of those things are harder to monitor. And harder to write FOI requests about.
Less cover-up, more records management issues
Back in July, whistleblowers raised concerns Freedom of Information obligations were being avoided at the National Energy System Operator (Neso).
Neso manages the Electricity National Control Centre (ENCC) that’s responsible for balancing electricity supply and demand in real time to keep the power on, while also planning the nation’s energy networks for the net zero transition.
Multiple people approached shadow energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, with concerns about energy grid security and that engineers were instructed to use “live”, or to draft documents that weren’t disclosable under Freedom of Information rules to hide problems from public scrutiny.
So what was going on?
Neso appointed an external law firm to conduct an investigation into the allegation, which has now reported back. The investigation found, while there were cultural, governance and control issues, there wasn’t a cover-up.
A combination of the heatwave (and lots of people running lots of fans) and less energy available, due to wind turbines not generating much energy due to low winds, and several gas-fired power stations suffering unplanned outages, did mean the electricity supply was under pressure in June. Electricity Margin Notices, which alert the market to tight conditions, were issued.
The investigation found no evidence operational records were deliberately altered, deleted or not kept, in order to avoid FOI obligations, or that instructions to do that were given. Some live documents were timestamped and retained but others in Word and Excel were overwritten by successive saves.
There were “high levels of stress and concern” within the ENCC about the increasing challenges in keeping the electricity supply and demand balanced.
There’s a general feeling this struggle wasn’t fully appreciated by Neso management and concerns and complaints went largely unheard because of the need to keep external stakeholders (customers, Government and the regulators) happy. So some individuals may avoid raising concerns altogether, as little point when nothing appears to change, while others instead take their concerns elsewhere.
The report recommends improving version history for control room documents and standardising and
enforcing logging practices to improve record-keeping. It also recommends improving how concerns can be raised and addressed. Neso has accepted all the recommendations.
A new addition to Freedom of Information
It can sometimes feel like FOI is always under threat of being restricted. But occasionally it does get expanded a little.
From April 2027, Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) that manage council housing will be brought under Freedom of Information rules. A TMO is a legal body formed by council tenants and leaseholders to manage their homes.
The changes will mean residents (and anyone else) will be able to request information about services such as repairs, estate management, and rent collection, improving transparency and making these organisations more open and accountable.
It’s interesting that these organisation will be brought under the FOI Act, while, at the same time, housing associations will be covered by a separate, more limited, transparency regime.
Just ask instead?
Powys council leader Jake Berriman wants people to ask him questions directly rather than send him Freedom of Information requests.
In total, there were 1,348 requests for information made to the council last year, which is a 4.5 per cent increase on the 1,289 made in 2024/2025. Only 77% of FOI requests were completed within the legal 20-day deadline, which is less than the 79% in 2024/2025.
Cllr Berriman said: “I note how many requests we have for specific access requests, Freedom of Information. These things seem to be a one-way street, they are increasing all the time, and they are often quite complex and involve lots of officers putting information together.
“Personally, I have been subject to two FOIs and duly replied in accordance with the requirements. But what I would say is that the bit of paper to produce a response has been handled multiple times before it reached me.
“I do have, tomorrow in fact, a time to talk session where I am available to all members of the public to ask me questions and have a conversation on any topic they wish to.
“It might be easier to ask the question that you have directly to me.”
I’m not sure the problem with FOI requests can be that they’re simultaneously complex and time-consuming and simple and quick.
There’s nothing stopping councils from dealing with the quick requests as ‘business as usual’. They generally don’t do that much because the questions they get aren’t all easy and need someone to spend some time doing searches and getting an answer together.
This week’s Freedom of Information stories…
Coal tips
More than 230 disused coal tips remain across Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, 60 years after the Aberfan disaster brought the devastating risks posed by unstable colliery waste into sharp focus.
Welsh Government figures published in March, 2026, record 170 disused coal tips in Carmarthenshire. These comprise one Category C tip, 58 Category B tips, 58 Category A tips and 53 Category R tips. No Category D tips are recorded in the county.
In Pembrokeshire, the Welsh Government records 62 disused coal tips, comprising one Category C tip, six Category B tips and 55 Category A tips. The county has no Category D or Category R tips listed.
Category C and D tips have the potential to affect public safety and are subject to more frequent inspections. A Category C classification does not mean that a landslide has occurred or is imminent.
Pembrokeshire council was asked how many instability events involving Category C and D disused coal tips had been recorded since January 1, 2020.
In its Freedom of Information response, dated October 15, 2026, the council said its Pollution Control Team was not aware of any such instability events in Pembrokeshire during the period. The team also said it had not carried out any inspections of Category C or D disused coal tips since January, 2020.
Unsafe areas
An internal Stormont assessment advised that asylum seekers should not be housed in parts of Northern Ireland due to “actual or likely racial tensions”.
Almost half of all areas in Northern Ireland were classified either as ‘Red’ zones unsafe for asylum seeker accommodation, or ‘Amber’ zones where officials had “reservations”.
The documents were obtained by the The Detail through freedom of information requests. The locations of the areas were not disclosed on safety grounds.
Crime gangs
Figures show that 135 serious organised crime groups are currently assessed as active in Scotland, seven of which involve children or young people.
Data obtained by STV News through a freedom of information request details known crime operations in Scotland over the last five years.
It also shows 50 Scottish crime groups currently have international links, 62 involve drugs and 41 are entangled in money laundering.
Money laundering
More than 8,900 people aged under 30 were arrested for money laundering offences in England and Wales between 2020 and 2025. That’s more than six in ten of all money laundering arrests recorded during the period.
Analysis of data obtained from 36 police forces through freedom of information requests found 14,493 money laundering arrests between January 2020 and January 2025. Of these, 8,956 involved people aged 18 to 29. A further 776 under-18s were recorded by 35 forces.
Bus station incidents
New figures have laid bare the extent of anti-social behaviour at Elgin bus station in the years following a fatal attack on a Stagecoach driver.
In February 2024, Keith Rollinson died after he was assaulted by a 15-year-old boy, whom he had refused to let board his bus as he was drunk. The 58-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and later died in hospital.
Two and a half years after the incident, figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request have revealed that police have dealt with hundreds of incidents at the bus station since Mr Rollison’s death.
According to the data, 270 incidents were recorded up to September 2026, of which 199 were attended by officers.
Student debt
Nurses now have more student debt than doctors, amid an exodus of them from social care.
The nurses’ union is urging Andy Burnham to help tackle their financial woes as they now graduate owing £50,160 on average. Freedom of Information requests show this is more than the typical doctor graduates with at £47,774 – despite shorter courses and nurses earning £200,000 less on average over their careers.
Cloned number plates
More than 11,400 motorists contacted the DVLA last year after receiving penalty notices for offences they did not recognise.
Most of those disputed penalties are believed to involve cloned plates, according to data obtained by the RAC.
Freedom of Information figures show disputes rose nine per cent from 10,460 in 2024, and have nearly doubled since 2018 when 5,912 cases were logged.
Mould
More than 1,800 incidents of mould in homes have been dealt with by Hull City Council since a new law was introduced last autumn.
The legislation was introduced after two-year-old Awaab Ishak died from exposure to black mould at his Rochdale home in 2020.
Since the law came into effect on 27 October 2025, Hull City Council has recorded 1,631 reports of “significant” damp and mould, alongside 202 cases classified as critical emergencies. All incidents were investigated within the 24-hour time frame required by the law, the authority said.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the figures were obtained through a Freedom of Information request by The Property Buying Company.
Playground injuries
More than £1m has been paid out in compensation over injuries in Northern Ireland’s school playgrounds in the past five years.
New figures released to the Irish News via a Freedom of Information request reveal the Education Authority (EA) paid out a total of £1,016,909 in compensation between April 2021 and March 2026.
Education, health & care plans
Cambridgeshire County Council has been ranked among the worst in the country for providing care plans for children with special needs within the deadline. A Freedom of Information request showed that the council is facing an active backlog of around 1,800 cases.
Children who are referred for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) should receive one within 20 weeks – but last year, less than one in ten were provided within the deadline.
Councillor enquiries
Freedom of Information requests have revealed the number of enquiries submitted by each Walsall councillor since the local elections in May.
Coming in at number one is Willenhall’s Councillor Simran Cheema, the council’s only Labour member, who raised a total of 267 enquiries.
Councillors, when elected, are responsible for raising matters on behalf of residents to Walsall Council. This can include issues around anti-social behaviour, roads, waste management, housing and more.
Plane patrols
Piloted flights protecting Scotland’s waters from illegal fishing have more than halved due to cuts by the Scottish Government to its fisheries surveillance programme, The Ferret can reveal.
The government’s marine directorate put both its surveillance planes up for sale last summer, claiming there would be “no impact on dedicated fisheries surveillance” because of a new agreement to loan aircraft from the UK Government.
But the new deal secures less than half the number of hours flown on average annually by the marine directorate’s own planes.
Documents published when the aircraft went on the market – along with a copy of the deal’s terms obtained under freedom of information law – also show the new partnership gives the UK government priority over Scotland to use the planes.
20mph roads
UK councils have spent more than £41.9million on introducing 20mph roads over the past three years, new data reveals.
Hertfordshire has forked out the most on the lower speed limits during this time, with a total spend of £4.64million. This is followed by Oxfordshire (£3m) and Cornwall (£2.66m).
The figures were obtained by Confused.com through Freedom of Information requests to local councils.
Bin fire
Research by mobile phone recycling comparison website Compare and Recycle found that Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended 56 suspected lithium battery-related incidents between January 2019 and June 2026.
The number of recorded incidents rose from 16 between 2019 and 2022 to 40 between January 2023 and June 2026 — an increase of 150% between the two periods.
The findings come from Freedom of Information requests sent to all 49 UK fire and rescue services. Of those, 21 supplied complete figures covering the full period.
Cannabis farms
New data obtained through a freedom of information request shows 13 hidden cannabis farms were uncovered across Wiltshire between January 2023 and September 2026.
Wiltshire Police officers discovered one of the farms in 2023, followed by three in 2024 and six in 2025. Three more have been found this year between January 1 and September 21, 2026, with a fourth being uncovered in a Swindon house just last week.
Despite the number of discoveries, police have confirmed that only one person has ever been charged in connection with any of the farms in the last three years.
Council reorganisation
More than £3.3 million was spent on scrapped local government reorganisation plans, Essex County Council has revealed.
A Freedom of Information request by the Echo revealed the extra planning costs before the Government axed the project last month.
Net extra spending on the programme reached £3.341 million by August, with most of the money going on staff.
Taxi spend
More than £42.5 million has been spent on taxis and private hire vehicles by Glasgow City Council over the last five financial years, new figures reveal.
Taxi expenditure for elected members cost £954.17 in 2021/22, £2,110.33 in 2022/23, £3,229.44 in 2023/24, £3,403.46 in 2024/25 and £3,598.43 in 2025/26 with the average journey in 2025/26 costing £18.55.
The FOI demonstrates that a total of £38.1 million has been spent on taxis and private hire fares in education services over the past five years.
Scottish ferry issues
Using freedom of information requests, Scottish Liberal Democrats have obtained data which lays out the scale of the ferry fiasco blighting coastal Scotland – and the sheer cost of compensating passengers for the chaos and patching aging boats.
According to the figures from operator CalMac, in just three months, between 1 April and 30 June this year, £90,192 was paid out in response to customer’s rights claims by passengers.
Hospital removal
Hospitals across England removed thousands of “foreign objects” from people’s bottoms, including vapes, Lego bricks and TV remotes.
The items were disclosed after more than 100 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were sent by the Press Association to hospital trusts nationwide, requesting data on “rectal foreign bodies” from A&E and Urgent Care departments since 2022.
Medical staff at hospitals in Lewisham and Greenwich, south London, had to remove Lego bricks in balloons, beer and shampoo bottles, a toothbrush and a door handle from patients’ rectums.
Of the 106 hospital trusts who received the FOI request, only 11 responded with an itemised list, because some did not hold the information or cited cost as an exemption.
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