Not answering Freedom of Information requests can get you in big trouble.
Jump to this week’s Freedom of Information stories…
The Scottish Government has been admonished by the Court of Session for failing to meet deadlines to release information.
Yes, this is related to the never-ending row between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Information Commissioner about the report into whether Nicola Sturgeon breached the ministerial code in relation to the Holyrood inquiry into her predecessor Alex Salmond, why do you ask?
The Information Commissioner had ordered the Scottish Government to release some of the information relating to the report by January 15 this year.
The government said (on January 15) that it wasn’t going to make the deadline. It said redactions were complex (to avoid identifying complainants) and time-consuming.
The second deadline was missed. The Information Commissioner referred the matter to the court. The information was eventually released on February 24. And the court has now found the government in contempt for deliberately failing to comply with the notice to release the infotmation.
What went wrong?
Mostly, the Scottish Government faffed around not getting on with doing the redactions, then “showed a lack of proper respect” for the Commissioner and the FOI Act for assuming a deadline extension would be fine.
The notice requiring the release of the information was made on December 1, 2025. In what the court describes as “a deliberate choice, the Scottish Government chose to spend most of December on things that weren’t preparing documents for disclosure.
When work actually got underway in January, it became obvious it wouldn’t be done by the deadline.
However, the Scottish Government didn’t let the Commissioner know it was struggling to make the deadline until the day disclosure was due. It didn’t apologise for missing the deadline.
And it didn’t ask for an extension, which the Commissioner would have had to reasonably consider granting. Instead the Scottish Government just said it would send the information “as soon as
possible”.
In her decision, Lady Poole said there was a risk that if the court didn’t exercise its powers, it might be seen as condoning the breach by a public authority of a deadline.
She added that the submissions didn’t show much contrition on the part of Scottish Ministers. Instead, they “tended more towards indignation that the Commissioner had exercised his statutory powers in respect of the Scottish Ministers”.
This isn’t really how Freedom of Information works
The mother of a woman whose husband killed her pets before murdering her is campaigning to create a national animal abuse register to protect domestic abuse victims.
The story updating on the progress of the campaign says, “if passed, someone with a history of animal abuse would be added to a national register that can be accessed by the police and the Freedom of Information Act.”
But this information is unlikely to be within the scope of the FOI Act. It would likely be exempt as personal information and under the prejudice to investigations and law enforcement exemptions.
I’m not sure how this has ended up in the article. It doesn’t seem to be coming from the campaign – they see the law working in a similar way to Clare’s Law (the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme), where people can ask for information about their own or a friend/family member’s current or former relationship.
It may stem from a comment in a previous update that mentioned freedom of information, but seems to be a way of describing how Clare’s Law works and why Holly’s Law would be similar.
Could you solve the Met’s Freedom of Information woes?
The Metropolitan Police is looking for help organising its FOI management system. And it needs a lot of help!
The Met is planning a major upgrade of its digital capabilities. The the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) has posted several technology procurement notices with a total estimated value of up to £21.9 million including VAT
Among these, the policing authority plans to procure a replacement Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) software-as-a-service disclosure management solution valued at £3.6 million including VAT. You’ve got till July 1 if you think you have a solution that might get the Met answering requests on time.
This week’s Freedom of Information stories…
Ketamine crisis
Thousands of Scots are being admitted to hospitals and emergency wards due to ketamine abuse.
Illegal use of the rapid-acting sedative, which also has hallucinogenic effects, has risen sharply as a recreational drug in recent years, particularly among the young.
Stats uncovered by the Sunday Mail by freedom of information show nearly 1600 A&E and hospital admissions across Scotland in the last four years.
Between 2022 and 2025, the rate of attendances doubled nationwide – while at some health boards, such as Grampian and Fife, it rose threefold.
Microchipping prison leavers
Ideas put forward by technology companies at a ‘roundtable’ attended by Prisons Minister Lord Timpson and senior Ministry of Justice officials include tracker chips implanted under the skin of people leaving prison, moving prisoners around the country in driverless vehicles, and robot-run jails.
Although the meeting took place a year ago, many of the ideas discussed have remained secret until now. Whilst some sound farfetched, MoJ sources told Inside Time last month that they all remain under consideration and none have been ruled out.
The minutes were released to Foxglove, a group which campaigns against the abuse of tech by governments and companies, following a Freedom of Information request.
Private healthcare
North Wales patients are being sent to private clinics to help cut down NHS waiting lists – but the amount of money spent on private providers has dropped in the last three years.
Figures revealed through a Freedom of Information request show that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board spent around £14 million in three years to pay for NHS treatments at private facilities.
In 2022/23, the health board paid £8.48m for 5,656 treatments, dropping to £4.50m for 3,132 treatments the following year in 2023/24. This figure then fell to just over £1m for 1,000 treatments in 2024/25.
Dental funding
Cornwall’s health commissioners returned £1.22 million of their dental budget to the Government rather than spend it on patients.
The figure was uncovered by Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, through a Freedom of Information request to NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.
A spokesperson for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board said: “Under NHS rules, when a dental provider doesn’t fulfil their contract the money must be returned and cannot be carried forward or used for other services.
“This meant we had to return money for some contracts between April 2024-March 2025. “We have taken steps locally to improve this.”
E-bikes
Figures, obtained through Freedom of Information legislation, show Police Scotland seized 547 illegal e-bikes during 2025, up from 330 in 2024 and 103 in 2023. A further 195 e-bikes were seized in just the first three and a half months of 2026.
The data highlights the growing scale of the problem nationally, with the majority of seizures linked to uninsured and unlicensed vehicles.
Vape fires
The UK government’s ban on disposable vapes has so far failed to reduce the number of fires involving e-cigarettes, and, for insurers, the claims trajectory points firmly in the wrong direction.
Freedom of Information data obtained by Zurich Insurance from 38 UK fire brigades shows that incidents involving electronic cigarettes were approximately a third higher in 2025, at 172 fires, compared with 132 in 2024, despite the ban on single-use vapes taking effect on June 1, 2025.
In 2021, just 31 such incidents were recorded. Zurich cautions that the true total is likely higher still, as the cause of serious fires is not always determinable, not all brigades collect the relevant data, and smaller fires in refuse vehicles are often dealt with before emergency services arrive.
Credit card spend
FOI releases about spending on corporate credit cards can make for good stories. The scrutiny has probably means previous examples of extravagant and taxpayer money wasting spending are less likely.
But the the lack of context in releases and the way they’re used – often as an easier payment method for budgeted spending – can still make things look a bit dodgy.
Credit card files from Orkney council reveals £800 spending at Shein, £300 at JD Sports and over £19,000 at Tesco in just one year.
Spending across the wallet of 23 credit cards owned by Orkney Islands Council has shown thousands of pounds worth of purchases made at supermarkets, clothing brands, and hotels.
Figures obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request show that within just one year, hundreds of pounds was spent at individual clothing sellers like Shein and JD Sports.
Meanwhile, over £19,600 was spent at Tesco and over £3,300 was spent through Amazon in the 2025/26 financial year.
Flag removal
In Darlington, one of the people behind unauthorised flags on lampposts tried to use the Freedom of Information Act to prove locals backed his actions.
But the council revealed it had received 146 complaints demanding the England flags around Darlington be removed. Only six people wrote to support them.
Meanwhile, Cheshire West and Chester Council spent a five-figure sum of almost £20,000 on the removal of flags from street furniture in the financial year 2025 / 2026.
The Northwich and Winsford Guardian sent a freedom of information request after the removal of flags from Shipbrook Road, in Rudheath, on St George’s Day.
Mystery meat
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has released data on DNA tests carried out on food being sold in the UK.
Worryingly, of 263 samples tested by the FSA, a whopping 73 were ‘unsatisfactory’ due to containing undeclared species.
Many of the products tested were expected to contain goat, but really contained undeclared sheep.
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