Do you wanna send a Freedom of Information request? (don’t think this is going to work as an alternative version of ‘Do you wanna build a snowman?’).
The Australian Government’s bid to start changing for more FOI requests has met with an interesting response.
The Liberal Party of Western Australia is hitting up supporters for donations to its Freedom of Information Fighting Fund (A$30 to sponsor a single request, $3,900 to FOI the whole government).
News site Crikey is encouraging everyone to get their FOIs in before the charges come into force. And it’s also offering a personal freedom of information concierge service called FOI-4-U, where its team of hardened FOI veterans will turn the public’s ideas into requests.
Elsewhere, the fallout from the FOI request-related breach of PSNI data continues. Thousands of officers impacted by the data breach are seeking compensation.
But, at a hearing in the High Court, the police force said that despite a business case for a universal offer of compensation being approved, it couldn’t make such an offer as it can’t afford it. A previously published PSNI estimate put the bill at more than £100m.
Stormont’s devolved government has said it’s “made a very strong case” to the Treasury to help it meet the financial costs.
Cost of living crisis
“I am struggling to live,” pleaded the resident. “I’m hiding from debt collectors. I can’t afford to eat or to heat my house.”
This is just one of numerous emails, obtained by The Impartial Reporter via Freedom of Information (FOI), that reveal the daily struggles of residents battling poverty and financial hardship.
The emails, all sent to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, show residents at their wits’ end. One individual, who contacted the council in February, sought help with fuel vouchers or “whatever was available.” Others described struggling to heat their homes and asked for support with heating oil. Some spoke of difficulties paying household bills, including for food and electricity.
Missing evidence
There seems to be more to this one but we’ve apparently gone back in time two decades to be directed to the print edition for more details.
Police Scotland can’t find a photofit of a man who allegedly threatened to shoot Shamsuddin Mahmood two days before he was killed in 1994. The force has not responded when the newspaper asked if any more evidence from the 14-year Northern Constabulary probe has gone missing.
It says it has “fully complied” with points raised by the Scottish Information Commissioner, the watchdog which oversees Freedom of Information requests.
Police deaths
Some 46 serving police officers and a further 20 police staff died by suicide between January 2022 and May 2025, a Freedom of Information request submitted by Channel 4 News to the National Police Chiefs’ Council revealed.
And an estimated 26 former police officers and eight ex-police staff are also known to have taken their own lives during that period – bringing the total to at least 100 deaths across the three-year period – Channel 4 News understands.
Domestic violence
Over 6,800 children across the West Midlands were victims of domestic violence between 2022 and 2024 – with figures showing the age group most impacted.
Data released in a Freedom of Information Request to West Midlands Police shows that 6,818 victims of domestic abuse between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2024 were under the age of 18.
Figures also showed that older children, aged between 13 and 17 years old, made up over 83% (5,678) of the child victims during that time period.
Violence in schools
The number of violent and aggressive incidents reported in schools in Dumfries and Galloway has increased by 450 percent in the last six years.
Data released by the local authority in response to ITV Border’s Freedom of Information requests shows there were 88 reports in the academic year 2019/20.
In 2023/24 there were 528 reports, and in the last academic year there were 485. Incidents recorded in the data include physical violence, as well as verbal and written abuse.
No violence at the football
A Hamilton Accies fans’ group chief has blasted the club board after a Police Scotland Freedom of Information request showed no offences were committed during a protest on August 2.
Fans staged a protest against club hierarchy ahead of their League One opener against Montrose at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld. The club then issued a statement, claiming the match was ‘blighted seriously’ by a protest that ‘necessitated police intervention’, with supporters, including the oldest season ticket holder and a teenage boy, subjected to ‘disgusting foul and abusive language’.
However, a Police Scotland FOI response about the events came back as not held, adding police attended regarding protestors blocking the roadway, however, upon arrival all was in order and no offences were reported.
Supply teachers
Council-run schools across Cheshire West and Chester spent more than £4 million with supply teacher agencies last year.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) revealed the scale of school spending on temporary staff as they looked to plug gaps.
The FOI, which was submitted by a member of the public, showed schools across the borough spent £4,180,724 in total with teacher recruitment agencies in the financial year 2024/25.
Of this total, 18 secondary schools spent £951,263, while 75 primary schools spent £1,914,043, and 11 special schools spent £1,315,417.
Abandoned cars
More than 300 cars were abandoned in Worcester in a year, including untaxed and unroadworthy vehicles and some with no MOT.
A Freedom of Information request which has been used to create the map shows vehicles were abandoned across the city with 48 vehicles reported abandoned in January alone.
Electric cars
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted to seven UK city councils and Transport for London (TfL), reveal the percentage of electrified vehicles in their fleets.
Bristol leads the way, with EVs – both pure and hybrid – making up almost half (44.5%) of its fleet, followed closely by Liverpool with 43.3%.
Crashed cars
Freedom of Information data released by North Wales Police has broken down figures for causes of crashes in the region.
The data, which is from January 2024 to June 2025, breaks down the cause of collisions down in to six factors, namely; ‘Careless, reckless or in a hurry’, ‘Failed to look properly’, ‘Loss of control, ‘Failed to judge other person’s path or speed’, ‘Poor turn or manoeuvre’ and ‘Aggressive driving’.
For both Flintshire and Wrexham, the highest number of collisions were caused by ‘Failed to look properly’, accounting for 58 incidents in Wrexham, and 68 in Flintshire.
Accessibility
There are currently 187 State Care Monuments in the north, ranging from single sites such as Dunluce Castle to groups of monuments. Described as “among the most important historic places in Northern Ireland”, they are maintained by the Historic Environment Division (HED) of the Department for Communities (DfC).
However, details obtained by The Irish News via Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveal that just three of the 187 monuments on the department’s central register of monuments provide users with wheelchair accessibility information.
Wildlife crime
‘Wildlife crime across England and Wales is being systematically overlooked, under-recorded, and inadequately addressed, leaving thousands of wild animals unprotected’. This is the stark warning contained in a new report published at the Wild Summit by animal welfare charity Naturewatch Foundation, titled Policing Wildlife Crime: Make Wildlife Count.
Drawing on Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from 33 police forces, it found over 4,400 wildlife crime incidents were recorded between August 2023 and October 2024. The actual number is believed to be significantly higher, but poor and inconsistent recording practices make it impossible to know the true scale. 78% of recorded cases resulted in ‘No Further Action’.
Park and ride to nowhere
Nearly £10,000 is being spent of taxpayers’ money every month maintaining the empty Eynsham Park and Ride which has been slammed as “outrageous” and “embarrassing”.
All major construction work at the 19-acre park and ride on the A40 eastbound in Eynsham was completed in January 2024. But the infrastructure still needs to be built to connect it to the A40.
A planning application was submitted this summer and the county council is looking to get it open and in use by 2027.
But it has now been revealed that the council is spending £9,531.50 on taxpayers’ funds every month in security costs, lighting and fencing. An exact figure spent so far has not been revealed.
Stuck cars
A Freedom of Investigation (FOI) request by CambridgeshireLive revealed that there have been 111 incidents where cars have been driven onto the guided busway in Cambridgeshire (think cars stuck on tram lines but with buses).
The FOI request to Cambridgeshire County Council asked for information about incidents between January 2020 and July 2025. In 2022 and 2023, there was at least one incident reported every month.
The 16-mile busway runs between Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon. It uses raised concrete kerbs set at specific distances apart to act as a physical guide for the vehicles. The buses are equipped with guide wheels to keep them on the track, but can also be driven on regular roads.
Long waits for a beach hut
Are you on the waiting list for a beach hut at Tinside Lido? Then you better pop the kettle on, as a recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that you may be waiting for 422 years – if the current rate of change remains.
The FOI request- which was submitted by the local Liberal Democrats – revealed that just 10 people on the waiting list received a beach hut over the past eight years. If this rate continues, the 528 Plymouth residents on the waiting list for one of the 21 huts will be waiting for over four centuries.
Image by David Bell on Pexels
