Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# Words + Numbers

Telling stories through data journalism and Freedom of Information, and helping you to improve your skills to do the same

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://clairemiller.net/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://clairemiller.net/blog/)
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/7/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-7-2026-foifriday/) - Whistleblowers have raised concerns about electricity grid security…& Freedom of Information being avoided. Such attempts have been going on forever...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/7/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-7-2026-foifriday/) - Late (or non-existent) replies are a perennial Freedom of Information problem. But there's some deadlines you probably really want to try and hit...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/7/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-7-2026-foifriday/) - Some official information can be hard to access through Freedom of Information. If it's in private emails or Whatsapps, it might be overlooked or hard to get...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/6/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-6-2026-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information requests for councillors' unpaid council tax are almost as regular as council tax bills. And get refused, then overturned almost as often
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/6/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-6-2026-foifriday/) - Is limiting Freedom of Information complaints a way of dealing with AI ‘overload’? What to do about AI lowering the bar (and maybe the quality) for requests?
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 31/1/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-31-1-2025-foifriday/) - We love FOIs (unsurprisingly). And we love potholes (well, not so much after having to spend my Saturday patching a bike tyre, but they're an FOI classic). Now, happily, they're inspiring more FOI requests. The Freedom of Information Act got a shout out on The One Show as a tool for checking what your council
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/5/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-5-2026-foifriday/) - One in eight people say they’ve made a Freedom of Information request because AI suggested it when they were researching something.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 15/5/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-15-5-2026-foifriday/) - The ICO has some ideas for cutting back on Freedom of Information requests. But while we can still make requests, here's this week's FOI stories in the news...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/5/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-5-2026-foifriday/) - When making a Freedom of Information request, make sure you know what you want. And try to make sure the FOI officer on the other end also knows what you want.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/4/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-4-2026-foifriday/) - A journalist is facing a £14k Freedom of Information costs bill. And one of the attempts to make FOI harder has succeeded. It's not been a great week...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/4/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-4-2026-foifriday/) - The Government isn’t doing a great job of dispelling fears its planning to restrict the Freedom of Information Act. Jump to this week’s FOI stories… Following stories the UK Government is apparently considering cutting the cost limit for dealing with requests, MPs have been using parliamentary questions to check if this is an actual plan.
- [Does the pre-election period affect Freedom of Information requests?](https://clairemiller.net/2026/04/does-the-pre-election-period-affect-freedom-of-information-requests/) - It shouldn’t. But if your Freedom of Information requests get disrupted in the next few weeks, this might be having an impact. We’re now in the pre-election period for the Scottish, Welsh and local elections. All the guidance is that the pre-election period, when some public bodies need to be careful about what they communicate,
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/4/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-4-2026-foifriday/) - WhatDoTheyKnow isn’t just a place to make Freedom of Information requests. Well, if you’re MP Rupert Lowe it’s not a currently a place to make FOI requests at all...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 27/3/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-27-3-2026-foifriday/) - The Scottish Government is having another week of it Freedom of Information-wise. It did manage to score a victory in the seemingly never-ending saga involving several FOIs into an investigation into Nicola Sturgeon’s conduct in relation to complaints about her her predecessor Alex Salmond.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/4/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-4-2026-foifriday/) - It’s good to see people coming out in support of Freedom of Information. Jump to this week’s FOI stories… The UK Government has floated possible plans to cut the cost limit for dealing with FOI requests. Its complaint seems to be that requests have rocketed and budgets are under pressure. Currently, staff time for dealing
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/3/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-3-2026-foifriday/) - Apparently celebrating Sunshine Week with actual sunshine and new attempts to roll back Freedom of Information laws. Jump to this week's FOI stories... It seems like when one Government bid to make getting information about what they're up to fails, two more pop up. The UK Government is apparently considering cutting the cost limit for
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 13/3/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-13-3-2026-foifriday/) - FOI Friday has been on a bit of a break...but now it's back with another load of Freedom of Information stories. Jump to this week's FOI stories When making FOI requests, it's worth checking which public bodies you can send them to (and who might hold what information). There's probably more FOI-able bodies than you
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/1/2026 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2026/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-1-2026-foifriday/) - 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
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/12/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-12-2025-foifriday/) - For everyone's sake, I won't be sending a press release every time I send a Freedom of Information request. Sacha Lord, described as "the prominent Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester" (he resigned last January) and Chair of the Night Time Industries Association, has launched "a comprehensive Freedom of Information request to HM Treasury,
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/12/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-12-2025-foifriday/) - Another week, another data breach in a Freedom of Information release. As the fallout from the PSNI data breach continues, you'd think other public bodies would have learned. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has written to 8,100 current and former employees after an editable spreadsheet was "inadvertently disclosed" as part of a Freedom of Information
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/12/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-12-2025-foifriday/) - 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
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/11/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-11-2025-foifriday/) - It seems a bit of a weird coincidence if records people have been requesting under Freedom of Information were all destroyed after a public body had been ordered to comply with a request. So the outcome of the Information Commissioner's Office's (ICO) investigation into Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s handling of key dog breeding records
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/11/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-11-2025-foifriday/) - How a refused Freedom of Information request could lead to residents being shut out of local parks next year. Two residents used FOI to ask Witherley Parish Council for meeting notes, documents and emails about the neighbourhood plan - one in February 2021 and the second in May 2021. The parish council said most of
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/11/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-11-2025-foifriday/) - Some classic and creative uses of the Freedom of Information Act this week. There's some FOI stories which turn up quite often in this Friday list (not mentioning potholes). And others that are a bit new and different. One of the aims with this weekly blog is FOI ideas that could be applied in other
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/11/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-11-2025-foifriday/) - Public interest is a powerful thing for Freedom of Information. A decision notice from this week shows how the importance of the public being able to find out information about public bodies outweighs potential damage to those public bodies. In May 2023, Wirral councillors decided to purchase the Pyramids and Grange shopping centres in Birkenhead for £10.5m
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 31/10/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-31-10-2025-foifriday/) - Are Freedom of Information responsibilities getting harder to dodge? The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has been taking FOI enforcement action again. It has issued Practice Recommendations to most of the Northern Ireland government departments. Earlier this year, the ICO assessed all nine departments and found problems with eight. Only the Department of Communities escaped a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/10/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-10-2025-foifriday/) - Complain to the ICO about your overdue Freedom of Information request! Because it actually works. A man who waited four years to get an answer to a Freedom of Information request from his local council described the delay as a "lack of accountability". Kevin Robinson-Hale asked what he said was a "simple" set of questions
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/10/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-10-2025-foifriday/) - ​Is there a world record for sending Freedom of Information requests? Crikey News wants to see how many requests it can make in a day - to try and get in before the Australian Government makes it harder to do. More locally, another council has been given an enforcement notice for poor FOI performance. This
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/10/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-10-2025-foifriday/) - This week's FOI Friday took so long, there's now a new public body subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Services run by Greater Anglia are the latest to transfer into public ownership (as of Sunday (October 12)). Which means it joins the growing list of rail operators you can make FOI requests about trains
- [Are UK library books at risk of being banned?](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/are-uk-library-books-at-risk-of-being-banned/) - How many complaints have UK libraries had about books and are they responding by removing titles from their shelves?
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/10/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-10-2025-foifriday/) - A police body criticised for how it was applying Freedom of Information law has decided not to clean up its act. The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) central referral unit (CRU) first attracted attention for advising police forces not to reveal information on topics including the use of banned surveillance software and the spread of
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/9/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-9-2025-foifriday/) - Got views on the Freedom of Information Act in Scotland? A Bill is currently working its way through the Scottish Parliament to update the Freedom of Information Act in Scotland. Changes range from the tiny (specifying that an email is an address for correspondence) to creating a new offence of destroying information so that it
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/9/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-9-2025-foifriday/) - 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
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/9/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-9-2025-foifriday/) - Another week, another public body told to get its Freedom of Information efforts up to scratch. A couple of weeks ago Bristol Council failed to overturn an Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) order to get FOI request answered on time. The ICO has now issued an enforcement notice to Liverpool Council (the main takeaway is that
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 29/8/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-29-8-2025-foifriday/) - A refused or unanswered Freedom of Information request can still be a story (but there's some successes here too). The delay or refusal may highlight an issue..
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/8/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-8-2025-foifriday/) - Political parties in Scotland love Freedom of Information. You might have noticed FOI Friday regularly features FOI news from Scotland. And that quite a lot of the stories come courtesy of Scottish Labour, Scottish Tories, Scottish Lib Dems or Scottish Greens. All the political parties in Scotland (apart from the SNP as they're in government)
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 15/8/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-15-8-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information rows! Does inspiring an on-stage outburst from Liam Gallagher mean FOI is cool?
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 8/8/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-8-8-2025-foifriday/) - The Cabinet Office is at it again (Freedom of Information-wise). An FOI from Democracy for Sale found the Cabinet Office spent £32,000 on lawyers to avoid releasing a blank sheet of paper. In early 2023, former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was sacked as Conservative party chairman for failing to declare his tax affairs were under HMRC
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/8/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-8-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information requests have a habit of leading to personal data breaches. Usually the problem in the process is someone not realising or not checking exactly what information is in the spreadsheet they're sending out. The Information Commissioner's Office has issued new guidance on how to avoid a breach of data protection laws by
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/7/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-7-2025-foifriday-2/) - Sometimes Freedom of Information requests don't lead to a response...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 18/7/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-7-2025-foifriday/) - Thought getting answers to your Freedom of Information request was hard? The annual Foilies name and shame the most repugnant, absurd and incompetent responses to US public records requests under FOIA and state transparency laws. And it's a collection of high fees, denials, and ridiculous refusals that might make you feel a little better about
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/7/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-7-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information can expose the gap between story and reality...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/7/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-7-2025-foifriday/) - Should the Freedom of Information Act be used to call out councillors who are behind paying their council tax? A Derby councillor, who had previously been revealed to be in arrears following an FOI request, was again found to have received multiple reminders to pay after a follow-up request. They seem to now be up
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 27/6/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-27-6-2025-foifriday/) - This is probably the next Freedom of Information scandal...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/6/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-6-2025-foifriday/) - Cutting waste seems to involve a lot of Freedom of Information requests...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 13/6/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-13-6-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information classics week. Some stories bear repeating - getting an annual update on school absence fines, reports of missing people, or items smuggled into jails. Others work well whenever - there's always going to be a well known local establishment with terrible food hygiene. Drug-smuggling drones Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison saw the highest number
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 23/5/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-23-5-2025-foifriday/) - A quick detour to Freedom of Information in the US (although I think it reflects a pretty common attitude towards FOI). November 2024: Elon Musk posted on social media, “There should be no need for [Freedom of Information Act] requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency.” Currently: The Trump administration is
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 6/6/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-6-6-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information could be getting an update in Scotland. MSP Katy Clark has introduced the Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament. Among the things the proposed bill would do are: Changes introduced by the Bill include: make it easier to add public bodies (and those who carry out work on
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 30/5/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-30-5-2025-foifriday/) - New body covered by Freedom of Information just dropped.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 26/8/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-26-8-22-foifriday/) - This week's FOIFriday written while listening to ambient Scotsrail music (via the power of Freedom of Information, more about this later). In Freedom of Information news this week, the much criticised Cabinet Office Clearing House is set to be overhauled. It had been accused of blacklisting journalists, blocking the release of politically sensitive data, and
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/11/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-11-22-foifriday/) - There are some public bodies you can send a Freedom of Information request to but you might not realise you can. Possibly because you wouldn’t think they were public bodies. In recent years, the Government (or rather governments, this is a devolved issue) have ended up taking over contracted-out transport services. And now those services
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/5/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-5-2025-foifriday/) - Some useful Freedom of Information advice. Complain more...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/5/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-5-2025-foifriday/) - You know how the Scottish Information Commissioner told public bodies not to take Freedom of Information Act court action they are likely to lose...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/4/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-4-2025-foifriday/) - How not to handle a Freedom of Information request... A GP surgery has been criticised for putting up signage blaming a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for delays in the functioning of the practice. Caledonia Medical Practice in Cumbernauld put up a sign claiming that due to "extensive information" being requested there will be a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/4/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-4-2025-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information is political. And not just in the sense that opposition parties are using it on a weekly basis in Scotland (see below). In the US, among other things going on, unsurprisingly FOI is under attack. Teams that deal with FOIA requests have been entirely cut at the Centers for Disease Control and
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/3/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-3-2025-foifriday/) - A lot of Freedom of Information requests are about local issues. So this week that includes the cost of parking permits, vandalism to school signs, dead game birds and alternative names for train lines. Many of these could have a new life slightly less locally (though the one about pheasants does need some local pheasants).
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/3/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-3-2025-foifriday/) - A good result to a Freedom of Information battle this week. Channel 4 New's Fact Check has put together a really in-depth look into nurse staffing levels...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/3/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-3-2025-foifriday/) - Usually getting an FOI answered, particularly from central government, can feel like an uphill struggle. But sometimes the opposite happens...
- [The Future of Blogging: I Hired an AI Writer and Here's What Happened](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/the-future-of-blogging-i-hired-an-ai-writer-and-heres-what-happened/) - AI wrote this blog title. It also might be the most annoying 'content producer' I've ever worked with...
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/3/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-3-2025-foifriday/) - Good news, bad news FOI-wise this week. On the positive side, Ben Worthy has been looking at the ways in which FOI works. Broadly, it's popular - more than one in 10 people have now made an FOI request, and a survey in Scotland found 97% supported the idea of accessing information. This is probably
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/2/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-2-2025-foifriday/) - Slightly different this week. While the round-up of FOI stories is the same (see below), this is a chance to get creating them rather than just reading about them. If you've ever thought an understanding of FOI requests would be a useful skill to have. Or you've seen a story in an FOI Friday round-up
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/2/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-2-2025-foifriday/) - This week, a cultural interlude, with a show about the US Freedom of Information Act - featuring bluegrass music and public records - reaching the UK. And then some FOI stories... Weapons in schools A Freedom of Information request to Ysgol Dyffryn Aman revealed that during the 2023/2024 academic year, there were four recorded incidents
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/2/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-2-2025-foifriday/) - *sarcastic* But I thought Freedom of Information WAS a waste of money. In a totally not embarrassing move, Brewdog founder James Watt has launched an unofficial government watchdog, Shadow Doge, which he has styled after Elon Musk’s programme in the US. Watt said in a post on LinkedIn that his venture would assess UK Government
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/2/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-2-2025-foifriday/) - Another weekly FOI round-up and some more of the greatest hits... But after last week's encouragement to use FOI for road-related campaigning, here's another good example of FOI in action. Parent councils from 53 primary and secondary schools - representing more than half of Edinburgh’s state schools - have written to MSPs and councillors, urging
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/1/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-1-2025-foifriday/) - Sometimes it seems no one ever learns. George Greenwood, an investigative reporter at The Times, has written about the *extensive* emails and documents that went on in the background about his FOI about Suella Braverman’s use of private emails whilst in ministerial office. The request, which was immediately flagged as coming from a journalist, was
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/1/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-1-2025-foifriday/) - With the FOI Act recently turning 20, the Manchester Evening News is looking back on the information revealed by the Act - both the national scoops and the paper's own successes. Meanwhile, FOI compliance is possibly not going much better down under. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has launched a new statistics
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/1/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-1-2025-foifriday/) - After an 18 month FOI dispute, we finally have the official reasons Boris Johnson provided with his resignation honours list for giving peerages to Charlotte Owen and Ross Kempsell (after a lot of hard work by Martin Rosenbaum). And after all that, they're not massively illuminating. Martin describes them as "very thin, inadequate and lacking
- [How to make your first graph in Flourish](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/how-to-make-your-first-graph-in-flourish/) - Want to start creating your own data visualisations? Flourish is a great (mostly) free tool for turning your datasets into great looking graphs and charts. It's pretty simple to get started - you can create your first data visualisation in minutes, but it's also got potential for lots of customisation. So how do you make
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/1/2025 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2025/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-1-2025-foifriday/) - The FOI Act turned 20 on Wednesday (January 1). As is traditional at this time of year, we'll be marking it with a bumper round up of FOI stories that got everyone through the quieter festive period. Which is a nice reminder that as much as politicians and public bodies are unenthusiastic about FOI and
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 27/5/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-27-5-22-foifriday/) - FOI ideas this week look at high turnover in children's social care, police using force on teens, prison contraband, and the rise of cryptocurrency crime. Struggling social care The council that admitted it failed to prevent the murder of toddler Star Hobson has a serious staff retention problem in its children's services, according to data
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/12/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-12-2024-foifriday/) - It's a bit good news/bad news FOI-wise this week. Martin Rosenbaum scored a tribunal victory. It ordered the release of the secret citations former prime minister Boris Johnson sent to the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) for the peerages awarded to Charlotte Owen and Ross Kempsell in his resignation honours list in June 2023.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 6/12/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-6-12-2024-foifriday/) - Nobody fights a three-year FOI battle for the clicks. A couple of weeks ago, FOI Friday covered the Romford Recorder's battle to get a report into a dossier of racism and sexism complaints out of Havering Council. Havering Council has finally released the (heavily redacted) information but not without releasing a statement of attacking the
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 29/11/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-29-11-2024-foifriday/) - Don't make FOI officers dig through your cat memes to get to the information related to the FOI request. Speaking at Holyrood’s Freedom of Information 2024 event at Verity House in Edinburgh, Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton told delegates: “If someone has information that relates to a public authority, that is public information. If it’s
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/11/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-11-2024-foifriday/) - Good news, the Harry Kane statue has finally found a home. After five years in storage, it was unveiled by the player himself in Waltham Forest this week. FOI plays a part in this saga - the first pics of the £7,200 statue were released after an FOI request, allowing everyone to make judgements on
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/11/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-11-2024-foifriday/) - FOI question of the week via Tim Turner: is information about a cupboard personal data? Background: The Sunday Times, back in 2022, reported on a custom built wardrobe placed in the No 10 chief-of-staff’s office. As happens when things get bought, someone sent an FOI asking for the cost and information about the make/brand. The
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/10/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-10-2024-foifriday-2/) - Scottish public bodies have been warned not to take court action they are likely to lose...advice that would probably apply to public bodies nationally. The Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton said: "I would, of course, urge all Scottish public authorities to think carefully about the merits of an appeal before pursuing an FOI case through
- [FOI Exemptions - Section 22 – Yes, but are you really planning to publish the information in my FOI?](https://clairemiller.net/2019/10/foi-exemptions-section-22-yes-but-are-you-really-planning-to-publish-the-information-in-my-foi/) - The companion to Section 21 (and not just because both FOI officers and I frequently write one when we mean the other), is Section 22. If Section 21 is there to direct you to information you could have found elsewhere, Section 22 is a heads-up that the information you want will be available elsewhere soon. The purpose
- [FOI Exemptions – Section 12 – Should I appeal this cost refusal?](https://clairemiller.net/2019/05/foi-exemptions-section-12-should-i-appeal-this-cost-refusal/) - Figures out yesterday (May 1, 2019) show that 55% of Freedom of Information requests refused by central government bodies in 2018 were rejected under Section 12, or cost limits. Given that if you send FOI requests, you’re going to run into a time limit refusal before long, when is it a good idea to ask for
- [FOI Exemptions – Section 21 – but the information I want isn’t available elsewhere, is it time to appeal?](https://clairemiller.net/2019/05/foi-exemptions-section-21-but-the-information-i-want-isnt-available-elsewhere-is-it-time-to-appeal/) - If the Cabinet Office statistics for central government FOI-handling show cost is the most common reason you’ll find your request being refused, then coming in as the third most commonly used Freedom of Information Act exemption is Section 21, or information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means. (The type of exemptions you are more likely to
- [Data – it might not mean what you think it means](https://clairemiller.net/2011/08/data-it-might-not-mean-what-you-think-it-means/) - It certainly didn’t when it came to the £32 bread. That was actually 11 loaves and cost £2.82. The lesson from this is if it sound ridiculous, it probably is and it needs to be checked thoroughly, not the easiest thing to do when you’re on deadline. With this I’m mainly annoyed with myself that I
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 18/10/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-10-2024-foifriday/) - You're too late to get your Halloween FOI requests, but now might be a good time for a Christmas FOI request. Has your local council got a star-studded* Christmas lights switch-on planned? How much is that costing? More generally, how much are those Christmas lights costing (and have we switched to LEDs to save a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/10/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-10-2024-foifriday/) - Slow responses, extremely unhelpful refusals, the almost entirely blanked out documents, dragged out battles over information that turns out to just not be that incendiary. It's nice to know it's not just here, it's also the experience of using the FOI Act in Australia. This article from Australian independent news organisation details it's latest unsatisfactory
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/10/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-10-2024-foifriday/) - I think it might be spooky season (I am not sad about this. How early is too early to get the Halloween decorations out?). And apparently we're all asking about UFOs. Following a freedom of information request, Wiltshire Police published all the reports they have received mentioning UFOs, UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena), aliens and more.
- [More datasets you can use now instead of sending an FOI](https://clairemiller.net/2024/10/more-datasets-you-can-use-now-instead-of-sending-an-foi/) - I love a Freedom of Information request. I also love not sending an FOI request. As a data journalist, sometimes it's easier to go digging through published data for the story rather than using FOI, especially if what you'd be asking for is just what would be published anyway (public bodies are well within their
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 27/9/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-27-9-2024-foifriday/) - This one feels a bit like a local FOI request greatest hits! We've got speeding, dog mess, bad cyclists, and stolen cars... Zombie knives From Tuesday (September 24), it became illegal to possess “zombie-style” knives and machetes in England and Wales. The number of recorded crimes that mentioned machetes, swords or zombie knives has almost
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 13/9/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-13-9-2024-foifriday/) - I know I bang on about not sending FOI requests when you don't have to (here's some datasets you could go grab instead), but sometimes you might need the FOI request to add detail. Doing your research before you send your request can save you and public bodies time (the ICO has advice on how
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/9/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-9-2024-foifriday/) - Want another blog about FOI (I'm guessing yes, if you're here). George Greenwood, an investigative reporter at The Times, has just launched the brilliantly named Relight my FOIA blog. It should be a fascinating read on his experience of using the Freedom of Information Act. Meanwhile, what everyone else is getting out of FOI... Winter
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/7/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-7-2024-foifriday/) - Being annoyed about something not working is a good starting place for an FOI request. And that's how I ended up in a months-long 'FOI row' with Cardiff Bus because I got stuck at a bus stop waiting for lost or cancelled buses...again. This week a story highlights spending on taxis to take prescriptions and
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 9/8/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-9-8-2024-foifriday/) - We're back after a week off - had a lovely trip to Latvia, came home to plenty of Welsh rain! Catching up on a couple of stories people were kind enough to send me (send me your FOI success stories, I love it!). Firstly, Schools Week using FOI to see if people were leaving the
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 6/9/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-6-9-2024-foifriday/) - You don't have to only send a Freedom of Information request once. Repeating your requests is a great way to track progress or otherwise. The Police Oracle study looking at officers off due to mental health issues relies on FOI for information and has been running for 11 years. Plenty of requests asked about dog
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 30/8/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-23-8-2024-foifriday-2/) - Sending an Freedom of Information request is great. Not having to send one because the information you want is already available is also great. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has put together some tips for requesters for searching for the information they want before they send a request - to hopefully save them a 20
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 23/8/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-23-8-2024-foifriday/) - Following on from last week's depressingly regular complaining about the Freedom of Information Act from public bodies, a reminder of the importance of FOI. The horrifying case of Child Q, a black 15-year-old girl who was strip searched while at school in 2022, led to increased scrutiny on not just the Metropolitan Police, where a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 13/5/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-13-5-22-foifriday/) - This week's FOIs include bailiffs calling councils rather than council taxpayers, teens stuck in swings, and tea and coffee at council meetings. Yes, it's an FOI Friday on a Friday Council debts FOI requests regularly show that councils are willing to use bailiffs to enforce payment of council tax, but a freedom of information request
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/8/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-8-2024-foifriday/) - It sometimes seems like a new government provides an opportunity for public bodies to have a whinge about the FOI Act. Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council complained about the number of requests it receives, in a statement outlining its efficiency to the new Labour government. In its statement, the council said: "The reality is that
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 26/7/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-26-7-2024-foifriday/) - Two stories this week highlight the usefulness of FOI for campaigners. Poor air quality A Greenwich mum is fighting for improved air quality after her three-year-old son was hospitalised and now relies on an inhaler twice a day. Alice Potter, 37, moved to Charlton nearly five years ago with her partner and said that in
- [FOI is better than tea and biscuits!](https://clairemiller.net/2012/03/foi-is-better-than-tea-and-biscuits/) - The Cardiffian, Cardiff School of Journalism’s hyperlocal website, published a story earlier about Freedom of Information requests to Cardiff Council – nearly 4,000 in the past three years (most of those aren’t mine, honest). There was whinging about the value of the act, I got irritated, there were tweets. The negative comments are like a short re-hash
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/7/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-7-2024-foifriday/) - Post-election, I feel like we're just waiting for how long it takes for the Conservatives to discover the joys of FOI...and Labour to decide it's just a load of hassle (after sending a load of requests in the run up to the election). The stories coming out of FOIs this week... Asylum hotels Clearsprings is
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/7/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-7-2024-foifriday/) - If you're in the UK, you probably voted yesterday. Do you know why we traditionally use pencils to fill in ballot papers? A Freedom of Information request provides the answer. A response from the Electoral Commission (yes, FOI-able public body) said that people don't have to use the pencil, they can use their own pen.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/6/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-6-2024-foifriday/) - Public bodies are rubbish at answering FOI requests - in full, on time, or at all. openDemocracy has analysed 6,000 rulings issued by the FOI watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), between 2021 and 2023 – and found almost a quarter related to public authorities’ failure to hit the 20-working day deadline. Only around a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/6/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-6-2024-foifriday/) - The last time Labour won a big majority in a general election back in 1997 (just saying, because these things happen), we got the Freedom of Information Act. I won't be holding my breath for any improvements to how the FOI Act works after the election as no party has committed to any changes in
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/5/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-5-2024-foifriday/) - The saga of the optical illusion cycle path continues. And it's a nice example of using freedom of information requests to keep up with a story. If you've been reading FOI Friday on a regular basis, you may remember the “optical illusion” cycle lane installed in Keynsham, Somerset. An early FOI by a local councillor
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/3/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-3-2024-foifriday/) - Information is a broad concept within the Freedom of Information. It can mean numbers or statistics taken from a public body's database. It can be emails, messages and WhatsApps (if you can get 'em) about official business. It can be unpublished reports. It might be pictures of a footballer statue. So what are people getting
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/6/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-6-2024-foifriday/) - The Harry Kane Statue is the new Optical Illusion Cycle Path. Or, in other words, who doesn't love an FOI follow-up. Waltham Forest Council spent £7,200 in 2019 and 2020 to have a statue made of Chingford-raised footballer Harry Kane, but are struggling a bit to find somewhere to put it. A previous FOI revealed
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/6/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-6-2024-foifriday/) - Let's talk Environmental Information Regulation requests. They're like Freedom of Information requests, as they function in a similar way but they're more specific in what they cover (and potentially cover a wider range of organisations). Generally, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 mean members of the public are entitled to request environmental information from public authorities.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 31/5/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-31-5-2024-foifriday/) - FOI is important. Obviously, that's my view but it's shared by the people of Scotland, according to a survey. A survey by the Scottish Information Commissioner (of 1,279 members of the public) found 97% agreed it was important for the public to be able to access the information held by public bodies, while only 6%
- [A Great Big List of FOI Ideas](https://clairemiller.net/2013/01/a-great-big-list-of-foi-ideas/) - Is one of your journalism resolutions this year to put in more Freedom of Information requests but not really sure where to start? David Higgerson’s blog has a FOI Friday feature, collecting together stories from local and regional newspapers that have been based on responses to FOI requests. The list below collects together the topics of the
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/5/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-5-2024-foifriday/) - We are now just under six weeks out from a general election. Which means you just about have time to get in a FOI request and get the information back before polling day. Possibly if you think FOI could turn up some information that would be useful for understanding the issues. In the pre-election period,
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/5/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-5-2024-foifriday/) - A somewhat quiet week FOI-wise (that or Google search is hopeless and I can't find examples). But in a quiet FOI week, there's still time for potholes, compensation claims, and following up previous stories... Pay-outs to teachers A member of staff has been awarded £8,000 in damages after being injured in an attack and while
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/5/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-5-2024-foifriday/) - Something of a late and quite short FOI (not)Friday this week... Homeless families The number of families put up in B&Bs and hotels in Glasgow has doubled in three months. The latest official figures show on April 1 there were 52 families living in homeless B&B hotels, twice as many than January 1, when it
- [Predicting the Oscars...with data!](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/predicting-the-oscars-with-data/) - Predicting the winners of the Oscars using data is a something of a tradition (you could, alternatively, watch all the films and come to an informed conclusion of which is the best). There’s lots of data. There’s predictable patterns (win one award, up your chances for an Oscar, Best Picture and Best Director often go
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 27/1/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-27-1-2023-foifriday/) - FOI is great, it gives you access to unpublished information. However, that information can be incomplete, unclear, limited, or just rubbish. Last week's story about five year waits for diagnostic treatment has ended up as a local row, with the health board refuting claims that people are waiting that long (this is also a political
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/6/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-6-2023-foifriday/) - Porn noises on Match of the Day? Yes, there's a Freedom of Information request for that. The BBC is subject to the FOI Act. As well as all the regular exemptions, it also has a pretty wide opt-out for information held for the purposes of journalism. Which can make it pretty difficult to get information
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/4/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-4-2023-foifriday/) - Chase that late Freedom of Information request. It's official, you're not being unreasonable. That view comes from a recent First Tier Tribunal decision. The Information Rights Tribunal ruled South Yorkshire Police was wrong to dismiss as vexatious freedom of information requests from a disgraced former MP. Jared O’Mara had made dozens of requests under the
- [Data Journalism for Beginners: How to make a live updating council election map for candidates and results](https://clairemiller.net/2022/05/data-journalism-for-beginners-how-to-make-a-live-updating-council-election-map-for-candidates-and-results/) - Thursday (May 5) is local election day, and the classic way of displaying results is in a map, coloured in to show which party won which ward. These are relatively straightforward to put together using online data visualisation tools like Flourish and Datawrapper. Flourish is the slightly more flexible option here for uploading custom base
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 26/4/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-26-4-2024-foifriday/) - Getting answers to your FOI request can be a challenge. The latest statistics for requests to central Government show that your chances of getting all the information you ask for is falling. On a smaller scale, this investigation by Cherwell shows similar problems with the hit and miss responses from Oxford colleges. However, some people
- [Four Keys to Effective Data Visualisation](https://clairemiller.net/2024/02/four-keys-to-effective-data-visualisation/) - Turning the insights you get from datasets into something you can share with other people - and have them understand what you're on about - is a challenge. And a skill that is becoming increasingly vital for data journalists...and anyone else faced with making sense of lots of data. One way to effectively tell stories
- [7 datasets you can write about now instead of waiting for your FOI request to come back](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/7-datasets-you-can-write-about-now-instead-of-waiting-for-your-foi-request-to-come-back/) - So you've had a great idea for a story, but you need more information to stand it up. So is it time for a Freedom of Information request (or several). Freedom of Information requests are a great way to get information from public bodies that isn't available from anywhere else. But it takes time to
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/4/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-4-2024-foifriday/) - Could publishing more information cut Freedom of Information requests? Auditors have suggested Torridge District Council improves the information it shares with the public in order to reduce the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests it receives. Between January 2022 and February 2024 the council received 1,675 such requests, roughly two every day. Paul Middlemass
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/4/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-4-2024-foifriday/) - FOI Friday is about celebrating FOI successes. So as well as the stories making the news this week, there's also a couple of updates on previous stories. Firstly, the Liverpool Echo has won a victory in its battle with Liverpool Council for the release of the identity of two elected councillors who were summonsed to
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/4/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-4-2024-foifriday/) - Some FOI request ideas will potentially work anywhere - just how long have those roadworks driving everyone round the bend actually been going on? Where are you most likely to find shared houses in your city? Some ideas could be adapted to different public bodies - what's been lost or stolen (laptops, vehicles, etc.) or
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 29/3/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-29-3-2024-foifriday/) - Another weekly round-up of Freedom of Information requests making the news. This week is a combo of classics (never events and nicked bikes) and some requests that dig deeper into current issues. SEN assessments Schools are far more likely than parents to have requests for education health and care plans (EHCPs) approved by councils, new
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 15/3/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-15-3-2024-foifriday/) - A quick round-up of Freedom of Information stories this week... Weapons in schools A knuckle duster and nunchucks were among the weapons seized from children in schools across the Avon and Somerset area in recent years. A Freedom of Information request disclosed Avon and Somerset Police seized 13 items in schools in its force area
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 8/3/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-8-3-2024-foifriday/) - Writing this week’s FOI Friday from the train in the way to OpenDemocracy’s Freedom of Information conference. I’m speaking on a panel about the ICO’s record - I think the broad theme is there’s been an improvement on the FOI side but the bar, following Liz Denham’s time as Commissioner, was on the floor. The
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/3/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-3-2024-foifriday/) - This week feels like a bit of roads and motorist Freedom of Information special. Potholes, parking fines, speeding cameras are all classic FOI topics - and as potholes will appear every wet icy winter and drivers seem unlikely to learn to obey traffic rules, they're likely to long continue to be a good starting point
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 23/2/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-23-2-2024-foifriday/) - The power of Freedom of Information requests is you can ask for whatever information you want (you might not always get it). The first two stories this week feature FOI used for follow-ups - to official data or to another FOI. Using the Act this way means you potentially get more detail to broader statistics.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/6/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-6-22-foifriday/) - The ongoing impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis are both likely to be issues where Freedom of Information requests will be able to unearth more detail about the different affects on people. Services and schemes that support those struggling with rising prices may now be having to help increasing numbers of
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/2/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-2-2024-foifriday/) - Getting an answer - any answer - to your Freedom of Information request isn't always easy. And it might be getting harder. Statistics obtained by Scottish Labour shows that in 2023, the Scottish Government received 4,459 freedom of information requests. But just 1,434 of these received a full response within the legal timescales – meaning
- [Data Journalism for Beginners: The who, what, where, when of data journalism](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/data-journalism-for-beginners-the-who-what-where-when-of-data-journalism/) - The key to getting to grips with data journalism is remembering it is just like all other types of journalism... What is the story? In data journalism, the story isn’t really about the numbers or the data (because most people think numbers are boring), but what the numbers tell you about the world or people
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/8/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-8-22-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information Act requests are great for follow-ups. When those in power claim their policy or funding is helping solve a particular problem, it's a good time to check to see if it's having the impact they claim it is - like funding for extra NHS dental appointments, that didn't really create more appointments.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 9/2/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-9-2-2024-foifriday/) - You sent off a Freedom of Information request. And you've got an answer! But then when you come to publish a story based on that answer, suddenly the public body is disputing what it sent you in the first place. This happens depressingly often with FOI, including with the story on birth trauma below. Talking
- [What men really want – to stay at home with the kids supported by their rich wife](https://clairemiller.net/2011/01/what-men-really-want-to-stay-at-home-with-the-kids-supported-by-their-rich-wife/) - Typically poor reporting from the Daily Mail- I know easy target but this kind of all women are *insert stereotype here* just irritate me (the fact it doesn’t ascribe it all to evolution is a plus – I’m sure people in the comments will have obliged though). A quick glance at the You Gov summary for this survey
- [Combining Google Fusion Maps…](https://clairemiller.net/2011/01/combining-google-fusion-maps/) - …or how I made the Welsh boundary changes map. Click for interactive version I knew the announcement was due and that we would need a way to display it. And got to thinking about whether there was a way to overlay the new boundaries and the current ones. As a side note, I asked for
- [Wales needs open data! – An open letter](https://clairemiller.net/2012/02/wales-needs-open-data-an-open-letter/) - Open Wales has been lagging a bit recently, but I’m feeling invigorated so it’s time to get it back on track. Sadly I’m yet to come across a how-to for persuading governments to release data (obviously, if you find one send it this way) so this is really a quiet call to arms, I’m hoping
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/2/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-2-2024-foifriday/) - The theme this week is the use of the Freedom of Information Act to reveal poor and/or illegal behaviour. FOI can be a really powerful tool for bringing misconduct to light (particularly in showing the extent of problems). Some of the things revealed this week were very serious, including a large number of 'sexual safety
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/10/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-10-22-foifriday/) - The phrase that launched a thousand FOIs - "XXX has not said how much it spent on YYY". You know if your local police force, council, hospital trust, or even the Government pulls out that phrase the next question is going to be "Under the Freedom of Information Act, please can you tell me how
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 13/1/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-13-1-2023-foifriday/) - One theme for this week is looking at FOI requests that take other major stories in a new direction. For example, what has happened to the Ukrainian refugees offered homes in the UK? Away from those who have found support are those who have found themselves relying on councils' overstretched homelessness services. Or how much
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/5/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-5-2023-foifriday/) - You can make Freedom of Information requests about pretty much anything. That's the whole point. It allows anyone to ask about anything from any public body (doesn't mean they hold that information). With the UK hosting Eurovision last Saturday, there was an opportunity for some FOI requests. While Liverpool were chosen to host, an FOI
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/2/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-2-2023-foifriday/) - Some public bodies may need to give their FOI autoresponder an update (some with non-compliant nonsense about round robins and mandatory online forms definitely do). Ten councils responded to requests sent in by a Telegraph reporter last week, claiming there may be delays caused by “disruption to normal services” because of the pandemic. The local
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/8/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-8-2023-foifriday/) - Obviously, the main Freedom of Information story this week is the horrendous data breach by PSNI, which saw personal details of thousands of officers and staff published online as an FOI response. This keeps happening (and it absolutely shouldn't), and this has to be pretty much the worst case scenario for this kind of data
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 26/1/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-26-1-2024-foifriday/) - Possibly a fairly quiet week Freedom of Information wise - or Google Search isn't cooperating. It may be that things are a little thinner on the ground post the holidays (when people tend to use FOI to fill some news gaps). FOI was still hitting the headlines this week at the Covid enquiry - where
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 19/1/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-19-1-2024-foifriday/) - What public bodies seem to forget is often it's less embarrassing - and cheaper - to hand over information from Freedom of Information requests rather than try to sustain weak exemption arguments. After a two-and-a-half-year transparency battle with Schools Week, the Cabinet Office revealed last year it paid a total of £13,000 to TV presenter
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/1/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-1-2024-foifriday/) - If your New Year's resolution isn't to make more FOI requests (because you already send plenty), maybe it could be to challenge more refusals. Nottingham City Council must publish a secret report raising “very serious concerns” over its financial management following a ruling by the Information Commissioner’s Office. The council published its own 10-page summary
- [Data Journalism for Beginners: Why do it and how to get started](https://clairemiller.net/2022/04/data-journalism-for-beginners-why-do-it-and-how-to-get-started/) - The second edition of Getting Started with Data Journalism has just launched and over the next few weeks I'm going to be bringing you some beginners' guides to data journalism based on the book, so you can get a taste of what's in there (a lot of tip, techniques and info), as well as potentially
- [Using Excel as a web scraper - Getting Started with Data Journalism](https://clairemiller.net/2022/03/using-excel-as-a-web-scraper-getting-started-with-data-journalism/) - Want to know if your area is a Costa capital or just how many Greggs you have per head of population? The answer may be found in the Food Standards Agency's food hygiene ratings data. Everywhere in the UK that sells food is inspected to ensure they meet basic standards of not giving people food
- [Quick Data Tip: Text list to sortable list](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/quick-data-tip-text-list-to-sortable-list/) - Sometimes I get data requests that sound like they should be easy but turn out to have not much in the way of usable data available. What were the hottest days on record in the UK (you may have noticed that it’s a bit warm this week, plus it's likely to get warmer). So hottest
- [ICO25 - forward to a better world for FOI or just more of the same from the ICO?](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/ico25-forward-to-a-better-world-for-foi-or-just-more-of-the-same-from-the-ico/) - The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has a new strategy on Freedom of Information among other things. ICO25, which launched this morning, sets out what the ICO is hoping to achieve by 2025 with respect to its responsibilities for data protection and freedom of information. Or as the nicely designed PDF puts it: "ICO25 describes why
- [Data Journalism for Beginners: Six options for getting data out of a PDF and into a spreadsheet](https://clairemiller.net/2022/05/data-journalism-for-beginners-six-options-for-getting-data-out-of-a-pdf-and-into-a-spreadsheet/) - PDFs are the never-ending bane of a data journalist's existence. Unfortunately, public bodies really love sending data as PDFs. As this is the case, you will often need to get the data out of the PDF and into a more usable format, such as a spreadsheet. You could: Ask for the data not in a
- [Behind the scenes on an award winning story](https://clairemiller.net/2013/06/behind-the-scenes-on-an-award-winning-story/) - So this time last week, I was getting ready to catch a very early flight to Paris ahead of the Data Journalism Awards. My story looking at where social services in Wales sent children for care placements and which councils from other parts of the UK were sending children to Wales won the award for data driven investigation,
- [FOI and Datasets](https://clairemiller.net/2013/08/foi-and-datasets/) - Request Initiative, not-for-profit community interest company that helps charities, NGOs non-profits make use of FOI, is blogging top tips for using the FOI act. This week’s topic, looking at asking for datasets, is timely, with the new FOI rules on datasets coming in from September 1. The advice is good – datasets are always much better
- [The boundaries of data](https://clairemiller.net/2013/10/the-boundaries-of-data/) - What do you do about tracking data relating to an organisation or area over time, if the boundaries keep changing? Recently, I’ve been doing more with English NHS data. This is a new one as I’ve mostly been dealing with Welsh NHS data! Which it turns out is relatively straightforward in comparison. One of the
- [Journalism New Year Resolutions](https://clairemiller.net/2014/01/journalism-new-year-resolutions/) - Do I write this post every year? Probably. Some things I’m planning to work on this year. Blog more Yes, I say this a lot, then I get busy and don’t write anything for months. Not really sure best way to tackle this one. Might try for the setting time aside each day and just writing
- [With FOI think MVP](https://clairemiller.net/2014/01/with-foi-think-mvp/) - Being quite busy recently, I’ve been thinking about ways to use Freedom of Information Act requests to generate stories without taking up huge amounts of time (mine, and FOI officers) I’ve got a couple on the go at the moment – one involves working through reams of documents to pull out information and get it
- [Why Labour’s smear test attack on the coalition just doesn’t stand up](https://clairemiller.net/2014/04/why-labours-smear-test-attack-on-the-coalition-just-doesnt-stand-up/) - The coalition is failing women, the number who are overdue smear tests has soared 11% since they came to power, possibly due to the difficulty getting GP appointments. When working with data, it’s a really good idea to make sure you’re working with as comprehensive a dataset as possible and that you’ve sense checked it
- [Response to the consultation on the ICO’s Openness by Design strategy](https://clairemiller.net/2019/07/response-to-the-consultation-on-the-icos-openness-by-design-strategy/) - Do you agree with the vision we have set out for the regulation of access to information rights? Yes, it sounds lovely, and a great thing for the ICO to aim for. However, the problem is, very little the ICO has done in recent years suggests it has any ability to implement this, mostly because it
- [Openness by Design – Why the ICO has an (extremely) long way to go on FOI.](https://clairemiller.net/2019/07/openness-by-design-why-the-ico-has-an-extremely-long-way-to-go-on-foi/) - So I send a lot of Freedom of Information requests (count for last year was well in the thousands). Consequently, I get a lot of responses, a lot of refusals, send a lot of internal review requests and make a lot of complaints to the ICO (more than 80 last month). As such I feel
- [What politicians know thanks to the Freedom of Information Act](https://clairemiller.net/2015/01/what-politicians-know-thanks-to-the-freedom-of-information-act/) - The Freedom of Information Act turned 10 on January 1 (yes, I am a bit late, but I have been in West Wales) and political parties have been celebrating by enthusiastically using the act to find out information. Hopefully all this enthusiastic use will be reflected in a bit more enthusiastic support for the Act
- [The FOI Commission](https://clairemiller.net/2015/11/the-foi-commission/) - I have just sent my response to the call for evidence by the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information. In the end it ran to 23 pages, just over 10,000 words. I apparently had a lot to say about how FOI works, which can roughly be summed up as, the law is mostly fine (have you
- [Why data journalism will go mainstream](https://clairemiller.net/2011/07/why-data-journalism-will-go-mainstream/) - Reading through the Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday before last and there was an article about the inquiry into Stafford Hospital and the failings there. Interestingly at the end of the piece, the writer Tim Rayment mentions the lack of comprehensive information about hospitals that would allow patients to make informed choices about treatment. He said:
- [The Great Thing about Data Journalism](https://clairemiller.net/2011/06/the-great-thing-about-data-journalism/) - When it works well it works really well. This is a sort of companion piece to me complaining about how data journalism takes forever (ok, slight exaggeration). Sometimes its very quick and it pays off really well. The week before last I wrote a piece about how one in 130 16 and 17-year-olds received a custodial sentence
- [The Problem with Data Journalism…Time](https://clairemiller.net/2011/06/the-problem-with-data-journalismtime/) - As in not enough of it. Big datasets take time to go through and understand and find the stories in. Not easy when you have to write a lead on it as well as other leads. Particularly when calls need to go into press office by early afternoon to have any chance of getting a
- [Dodgy Statistics…now with added victim blaming](https://clairemiller.net/2011/03/dodgy-statisticsnow-with-added-victim-blaming/) - Not to go on about it, not that that ever stopped the Daily Mail…but we’re back with another round of violent girls, that’s the real problem in society today. Harriet Sergeant seems to have taken last months round of trying to make a fall in female crime look like a big rise, to write a trend piece
- [By escalating, you mean falling, right?](https://clairemiller.net/2011/02/by-escalating-you-mean-falling-right/) - Apparently violence by teenage girls is out of control in England and Wales – except it isn’t. The Daily Mail is having one of its periodic rages about how teenage girls are drunken violent monsters with a little moralising help from Civitas’ crime researcher/communications manager. Nick Cowen, a crime researcher at Civitas, said: ‘The number of female
- [How to get started with data journalism](https://clairemiller.net/2013/08/how-to-get-started-with-data-journalism/) - Well, it’s finally here. I’ve published my book Getting Started with Data Journalism. It is a comprehensive look at techniques for finding, cleaning, analysing and visualising data and hopefully help at least a few people learn more about data journalism (or just a few basic sums and a better understanding of Excel, pretty much essential skills
- [Data journalism – necessity is the mother of invention](https://clairemiller.net/2013/08/data-journalism-necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention-2/) - One of the things I like about data journalism (despite being very frustrating at times) is that it is very often an exercise in problem solving; it makes me think. Most of the problems that need solving are how to avoid doing something very tedious and time-consuming. I’ve been working with the Land Registry price paid
- [Data journalism as the answer to the story drought](https://clairemiller.net/2012/04/data-journalism-as-the-answer-to-the-story-drought/) - I’m slowly catching up with reading and blogging again – seriously, stop paying attention for five minutes and you end up buried in interesting things. Among the things I’ve finally caught up on is the MEN’s excellent Crime down your street series looking at the crime map figures for the whole of 2011 in Manchester (I’d been looking out
- [Using FOI as a journalist](https://clairemiller.net/2012/02/using-foi-as-a-journalist/) - I make a lot of FOI requests (I counted about 80 in a year), and yes, some of them are just fishing expeditions to get stories (look, it has to be better than press releases, and I get stories out of 90% of them, so the public is better informed in the majority of cases).
- [Journo Resolutions 2012](https://clairemiller.net/2012/01/journo-resolutions-2012/) - As it’s the third day of the New Year, now’s as good a time as any for some resolutions for the new year. Learn Last year, I learnt a lot about data journalism – from going on DJCamp and then experimenting with things like Tableau and Google Fusion Tables (I’ve now passed the ‘wow, aren’t
- [Open Wales – An Update](https://clairemiller.net/2011/11/open-wales-an-update/) - Firstly, I’ve been a bit quiet recently due to a very messy house move (see Twitter for much whinging) and a few weeks without home internet (see Twitter for yet more whinging). But seeing as quite a bit has happened in the last couple of months on the Open Wales front, this is a quick update. From the last
- [Open Wales](https://clairemiller.net/2011/09/open-wales/) - The campaign for more open data in Wales starts…well here and now unless someone else is already on it…anybody? Anyway, I was reading a blog post about how a campaign was launched to make Montreal an open data city, which explains how they’ve managed to get to the city to form a working group to look
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/6/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-6-22-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information can be a good way to get updates on a story, fill in missing information, or follow up a potential idea in more detail. This week's FOIFriday sees FOI requests used in this way to check whether a confiscation order for the proceeds of crime is actually getting paid, as well as
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 15/7/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-15-7-22-foifriday/) - Why were people evicted from social housing, how old are hate crime victims, and what were parking tickets given out for - this week's Freedom of Information ideas highlight the importance of asking for more detail, or for more up to date figures, like fuel thefts in a cost of living crisis. In other FOI
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/7/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-7-22-foifriday/) - You can't FOI the Queen, but there's plenty of other public bodies you can send freedom of information requests to in search of stories. You could even try using it to prove God is annoyed about public transport timetables. Unsuitable homes Children in care are being illegally placed in unregulated homes in England, including on
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 22/4/22 – #FOIFriday ](https://clairemiller.net/2022/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-22-4-22-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information requests can be a great way to hold public bodies to account - where a lack of information may make tackling crime harder or where action doesn't match policy decisions. Missing crime reports The effectiveness of FOI often rests on the effectiveness of records management. But poor records management can cause other
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/2/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-2-22-foifriday/) - This week, potential uses of FOI include finding the hotspots for the issues that really annoy people, and digging into the information that doesn’t make the official stats. Cancelled appointments One of the potential impacts of pandemic is likely to be the cancellation of hospital appointments and operations - as hospitals had to cope with
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/2/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-2-22-foifriday/) - With the continuing issues plaguing the Met Police, interest in where the police are falling short of the standards they should be meeting is high, and FOI is highlighting some areas where they're falling down. Problematic police officers Firstly, the Evening Standard found 129 male officers and 18 female officers had faced domestic abuse allegations
- [Freedom of Information in the news - week ending 14/1/22 - #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-1-22-foifriday/) - A new year, and a potential opportunity to start doing things differently. If doing journalism differently this year is one of the things you're hoping to change, then I'm planning lots of resources to help. David Higgerson’s blog previously had a FOI Friday feature, collecting together stories from local and regional newspapers that have been based on
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 28/1/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-28-1-22-foifriday/) - Sometimes the FOI request you sent in weeks ago turns out to be more timely that you might have anticipated it being (the long wait for response means it's not something you'd usually factor in to breaking news). Breaching Covid rules We know those responsible for coming up with Covid rules are currently in trouble
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 8/4/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-8-4-22-foifriday/) - This week's potential Freedom of Information ideas include a look into child neglect cases, the potential impact of the pandemic on mental health, and the cost (and effectiveness) of Covid jab campaigns. There's also a good showing by FOIs from the Scottish Conservatives in the same week OpenDemocracy sent an open letter to the new
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 18/3/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-3-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information round-up takes some different looks at the impact of the cost of living crisis, as well as police accused of abuse. There's also a reminder that if all else fails, dog mess will always be a top priority for residents. Cost of living It's not just households that will be
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 6/5/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-6-5-22-foifriday/) - This week's potential FOI ideas include the rising cost of energy for public bodies, the impact of the rising cost of fuel on crime, and NHS pressures. While the last two weeks of #FOIFriday have been delayed by fun things, this week's has been delayed by the local elections (the fun levels involved in that
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/1/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-1-22-foifriday/) - Actually on a Friday this week. And with a reminder that you don't always need an FOI to get the information you want. Sometimes knowing what is published can make finding what you need much quicker. Bad drivers getting away with it While asking for too much information in your request can be a quick
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 15/4/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-15-4-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information ideas round-up is a bit truncated (as it's a sunny bank holiday, and who has time to be sending FOIs on those!) Long waits Patients at Countess of Chester Hospital are waiting three years for treatment, Cheshire Live reports. The figures show that 15 patients have been waiting for treatment
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/2/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-25-2-22-foifriday/) - The many ongoing impacts of the pandemic are likely to be seen in many areas, with knock-on consequences to things like lockdown home schooling or falls in council income from things like parking charges. Maintenance backlog costs Sheffield Council could be facing a bill for more than £250m to simply maintain the properties and assets
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/3/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-3-22-foifriday/) - This week's stories show the use of FOI to follow up stories in more detail or locally, whether it's concerns about children being at a higher risk of abuse during lockdown, or the ongoing impact of the pandemic in fines for businesses during lockdown or furlough fraud. Neglected children A "coke-snorting" parent collapsed and suffered
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/3/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-25-3-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information stories include figures that show the wider extent of police strip-searches on children, as well as the potential impact of the cost of living crisis in unsuitable housing for the homeless and school meal debt. Children strip-searched The horrifying case of Child Q, a black 15-year-old girl who was strip
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/4/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-4-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information requests include classics like the number of parking fines handed out, but also show some of the problems with FOI, where not getting back information can be the story, or perhaps a jumping off point for more research. Quite a lot of the FOI requests have been made by companies
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 18/2/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-2-22-foifriday/) - This week highlights how FOI can be used to dig deeper into national headlines, or keep track of local issues, while also identifying a different kind of crime hotspot in Fife. Bin collections It might be a little harder to collect them than usual if they've been sent flying by Storm Eunice, but how many
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 11/3/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-11-3-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information round-up takes in Instagram influencers, eighty-something criminals, pupils with flamethrowers, and overdue library books. One thing about classic FOIs is that they can be endlessly repeatable and adaptable. Instead of just looking at knives in schools, there's the possibility of digging into more detail about the other kind of weapons
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/8/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-8-22-foifriday/) - Summer - sunshine, ice cream, picnics with friends, a trip to the beach, a dip in the pool. Or possibly. Summer - heatwave, drought, noisy neighbours, barbecues starting fires, closed down pools, and seagulls nicking your chips. This week Freedom of Information requests are exposing the less fun side of summer. Unwatered trees A Freedom
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/6/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-6-22-foifriday/) - I'm aware it's not Friday today, so this is another slightly delayed FOI Friday. But it's another week with some good repeatable Freedom of Information ideas, including thinking about the different types of information public bodies might hold (that might make an interesting story for you). The rising cost of living is having a huge
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 1/7/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-1-7-22-foifriday/) - A not on a Friday #FOIFriday. This week looks at several Freedom of Information requests that use the Act to follow upon policy and new legislation to see how things are working - are measures to stop puppy farming leading to more investigations and convictions, do clean air zones reduce polluting vehicles, and how do
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/6/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-6-22-foifriday/) - This bank holiday weekend would be a bad time to submit FOI requests (they're non-working days so don't count in the 20 working day time calculation. However, if you do need some Freedom of Information inspiration for when everyone's back in work - there's the rising scale of violence being faced by those in the
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/5/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-5-22-foifriday/) - This week's Freedom of Information ideas include repetitive buskers, council staff working from home, and a pandemic dog boom leading to a dog attack boom. Dog attacks There's been a number of tragic cases of children being attacked by dogs in recent weeks, which has brought the issue of out-of-control dogs back to the fore.
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 8/7/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-8-7-22-foifriday/) - #FOIFriday this week covers the use of keyword search in crime data, to find out which online services people are reporting crimes in relation to, the fallout from the pandemic with more teens on antidepressants and more being homeschooled, and the cost of living impact on public bodies' fuel bills. In other Freedom of Information
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 29/7/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-29-7-22-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information requests can be a great way to get more detail. This week's FOI ideas round-up looks at localising crime rates, breaking down offending by age and gender, and digging into parking problems by street. Local unsolved burglaries Charge rates have fallen dramatically - but what those numbers look like locally might have
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/8/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/08/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-8-22-foifriday/) - Public bodies are struggling with rising costs and increasing pressures (and Covid backlogs as well), and some, such as the NHS, already have staff shortages. One story this week stemmed from the council admitting failing to recruit and retain staff was a serious risk. But can FOI be a way to find out more detail
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 6/1/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-6-1-2023-foifriday/) - Happy New Year! And happy new FOI requests. Now is as good a time as any to send some off requests - NHS pressures and social care seem like areas worth exploring (there's some ideas from stories this week). Teachers sexual misconduct The number of teachers banned for life over sexual misconduct allegations has surged
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/10/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-10-22-foifriday/) - A reminder that it is worth complaining if Freedom of Information requests aren't dealt with as you'd expect. There seems to be a tendency, especially with late replies, just to let things go. But public bodies are aware when performance is poor, and complaints may encourage them to put more resources into improving performance. In
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/9/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-9-22-foifriday/) - Official NHS figures show a service under huge pressure - beds in use by people who could leave but there isn't suitable social care for them, people stuck on trolleys in A&Es because there's no bed available, people stuck in ambulances at A&Es because they're swamped, people waiting hours for ambulances because paramedics are waiting
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 30/9/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-30-9-22-foifriday/) - If you find your FOI requests aren't coming back within the time limit, you're probably not the only one. Compliance with the 20 working day limit can be hit and miss across public bodies. For example, at Reading Council, of the 289 FOIs filed in April to June, 182 were answered within the 20 working
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/10/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-10-22-foifriday/) - This is your weekly encouragement to send the FOI. Sending a Freedom of Information request can help uncover more details - final reports are often summaries of lots of information and there may be more background that's of interest - or factcheck claims by public bodies or their representatives. For example, following an investigation into
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 9/9/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-9-9-22-foifriday/) - In FOI related news this week, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken enforcement action for the first time in seven years (which is hopefully a good sign of a more robust approach). The ICO has issued an enforcement notice to the Department for International Trade (DIT) and a practice recommendation to the Department for
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 18/11/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-18-11-22-foifriday/) - One in 10 people in the UK has used FOI to try and get information they thought would be useful to themselves, their community or wider society, according to a new poll by MySociety (who run What Do They Know). Overall, one in seven people (14%) have made a request if you include those who
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/10/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/10/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-10-22-foifriday/) - A quick (and late) round up of some possible ideas this week. Long waits for support Almost two in every three plans issued by BCP Council to assist children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities who need more support were not issued failed to hit the specified deadline, according to the Daily
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 25/11/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-25-11-22-foifriday/) - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas #FOI requests in this week's FOIFriday. It may be cutting it a bit fine for sending in your festive questions and getting a response back in time (it's 19 working days till Christmas Day!), given some public bodies aren’t great at timeliness. If you need some more
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/12/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-12-22-foifriday/) - This week’s freedom of information stories continue to highlight the pressure public services are under - such as cancelled hospital appointments, council tax debt, and homeless families. Homeless children As many as 26,000 children aged under five could be homeless and living in temporary accommodation in England, based on new data gathered by Inside Housing. Inside
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 9/12/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-9-12-22-foifriday/) - The Freedom of Information Act came about after a manifesto promise from Labour in the run up to the 1997 election. In its argument for more transparency, the party accused the Tories of being “afflicted by sleaze”, having “debased democracy”, and supporting “secretive government”.Sound familiar? If it does, this could mean a boost for the FOI
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 16/9/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/09/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-16-9-22-foifriday/) - Freedom of Information requests can be a useful way of getting detailed (and quick(er)) information about events - in this case the impact of the July heatwave. Crime at hospitals Arson, criminal damage and theft are among the other crimes reported to have taken place at Furness General Hospital in the last six years. Other
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 4/11/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/11/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-4-11-22-foifriday/) - While this (mostly) weekly series is aimed at giving you inspiration for Freedom of Information requests you could send to, hopefully, generate some interesting stories, this is a reminder that you don’t always have to send the request. There are other places to find answered FOI requests, such as disclosure logs or What Do They
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/12/22 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2022/12/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-12-22-foifriday/) - This week's FOI Friday is a mixture of serious stories highlighting the pressure the NHS is under and looking into the lack of action on police who send offensive messages. But there's also stories on council meeting viewing figures, the cost of blocking a road with a council worker on a chair, and the fate
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/2/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-2-2023-foifriday/) - Journalists and businesses are usually the target for complaints about the misuse of the Act when public bodies are feeling under pressure from lots of FOI requests. Apparently, we can now add political parties to this list. As the number of requests reaches record levels, NHS Shetland chief executive Michael Dickson has said the time
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 31/3/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-31-3-2023-foifriday/) - This week's FOI news could make it easier (and quicker) for you to get the answers you want from your Freedom of Information requests. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced how it will prioritise Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaints that have significant public interest. With complaints potentially taking months to resolve, it was
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/2/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-2-2023-foifriday/) - With Freedom of Information, it can sometimes be worth following up your FOI story with another FOI. Earlier this year, the Mirror asked how much Liz Truss' distinctive higgledy-piggledy lectern had cost (particularly as she hadn't got a lot of use out of it). At the time, a Government spokesperson said: “Previous lecterns continue to
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 3/3/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-3-3-2023-foifriday/) - Important information to start this week: WhatsApp messages sent by public officials in the course of the work for public bodies are subject to the FOI Act. Despite what Isabel Oakeshott claimed in the Telegraph (possibly take what Isabel Oakeshott says with a pinch of salt, particularly if you're Matt Hancock and it's that those
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 17/3/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-17-3-2023-foifriday/) - One of the biggest problems with Freedom of Information requests is that they aren't quick. Sometimes a response will come back really quickly but expecting to have to wait a good chunk of the 20 working days limit (and probably a bit beyond that) is probably a reasonable expectation. As such it can sometimes feel
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/4/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-4-2023-foifriday/) - What's the worst FOI response you've ever got? Was it better or worse than the one provided by Glasgow City Council that has left it accused of providing “one of the worst Freedom of Information (FOI) responses in history”. That's after telling an MSP it would cost £250,000 to provide simple social care information -
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 12/5/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-12-5-2023-foifriday/) - Public bodies that don't answer Freedom of Information requests on time are under scrutiny. The ICO, this week, issued an official 'enforcement notice' to Shropshire Council for failing to answer requests within 20 working days. The council told the ICO it had a plan to clear its backlog by the end of March. However, it
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 14/4/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-14-4-2023-foifriday/) - If you have time to write an article about your overdue FOI request, you have time to complain properly. Sometimes it feels like a competition for who has managed to find the public body that's worst at responding. It's been 100 days since we made the request. It's been six months since the request was
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/5/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-5-2023-foifriday/) - It's getting harder to get information out of the Government. Last year, fewer than two in five Freedom of Information requests were answered in full. Central Government departments and related bodies received 52,662 FOI requests in 2022, according to annual data published by the Cabinet Office. They granted those requests for information in full just
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 20/1/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-20-1-2023-foifriday/) - Public body got something new and shiny (and possibly unnecessary), maybe a crime-fighting Tuk Tuk or a oddly shaped lectern? Maybe it's a good time to put in an FOI asking how much they spent. What about the impact of the NHS crisis? The many ways the cost of living crisis is being felt? The
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/2/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/02/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-2-2023-foifriday/) - Persistence can really pay off with FOI. If the first response is a less than convincing refusal (or just complete silence), and you think there's something there, it may be worth pursuing it further. And on the other side, as discussed earlier this week, trying to avoid requesters (particularly journalists) is quite a good way
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 24/3/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-24-3-2023-foifriday/) - This Friday, FOI your local council. They're responsible for lots of services that people rely on (and get very annoyed about). Like social care, education and housing, as well as pothole repairs, litter and flytipping prevention, and parking. They're responsible for food hygiene and trading standards...and licencing people to keep dangerous wild animals. There's a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 10/3/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/03/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-10-3-2023-foifriday/) - The main idea behind FOI Friday is to highlight good uses of the Freedom of Information Act in the news - to highlight issues, find out new information, and tell important stories. These are usually requests that could be replicated - you could send the request to a different public body and potentially get a
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 21/4/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/04/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-21-4-2023-foifriday/) - This week in FOI: Everything is on fire...and the opposition parties have noticed. (Also it's, like, two weeks to the local elections. That probably also has something to do with it). Freedom of Information is a fantastic campaigning tool. Particularly when coupled with the ability to generate lots of local stories (by sending out requests
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 26/5/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/05/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-26-5-2023-foifriday/) - If you regularly send Freedom of Information requests for stories, you may have experienced something like this. You make your request, start writing your story, but when you go to the press office for comment, things aren't what they appear. The South Western Ambulance Service has apologised after it gave incorrect information in a Freedom
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 2/6/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-2-6-2023-foifriday/) - Does it matter if the response to your freedom of information request might be confusing? Last week we covered the problem of unhelpful responses being sent out that then turn out to be wrong or misleading when you try to follow them up. But what about when public bodies refuse a request because they say
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 30/6/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/06/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-30-6-2023-foifriday/) - Just a quick #FOIFriday this week (I've been away on an actual holiday). So what FOI stories made the news this week? Sent away The Isle of Wight Council is forking out millions of pounds to relocate them to the mainland. Since 2013, the number of off-Island placements for children in the Isle of Wight
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 5/1/2024 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2024/01/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-5-1-2024-foifriday/) - We're back. Mostly, after a very long summer break. Please ignore the general state of the website, I moved hosting in November and I'm still in the half unpacked, lots of stuff still in boxes stage. But Christmas and New Year is a often a great period for FOI requests, as there tends to not
- [Freedom of Information in the news – week ending 7/7/2023 – #FOIFriday](https://clairemiller.net/2023/07/freedom-of-information-in-the-news-week-ending-7-7-2023-foifriday/) - Love to see those tasked with enforcing Freedom of Information law, turn out to not be too keen on Freedom of Information law. Scotland’s newly-appointed FOI commissioner has run into criticism, the Ferret reports, because he previously accused the media of FoI “abuse” to produce “crud” about the police, and suggested reforming the law. So
- [Data journalism – necessity is the mother of invention](https://clairemiller.net/2013/08/data-journalism-necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention/) - One of the things I like about data journalism (despite being very frustrating at times) is that it is very often an exercise in problem solving; it makes me think. Most of the problems that need solving are how to avoid doing something very tedious and time-consuming. I’ve been working with the Land Registry price paid
- [Huge list of data journalism resources](https://clairemiller.net/2012/01/huge-list-of-data-journalism-resources/) - Data Journalism Montreal Gazette’s Data Blog Data journalism: Resources to help reporters get started collecting and analyzing data Helsingin Sanomat provides guidelines to journalists on use of open data Data Driven Journalism: The Series Begins… 25 great links for data lovin’ journalists John Keefe’s blog on being a protojournohacker Top 10 things for getting started in data
- [Open Data Wales – it’s going to take a while](https://clairemiller.net/2011/07/open-data-wales-its-going-to-take-a-while/) - So on Thursday, the UK Government announced plans to release more data on schools, hospitals, crime and transport (then the closure of the News of the World was announced, which was a smidge more important). Back to the data release and this is apparently not something the Welsh Government is looking to emulate. I asked

## Pages

- [Home](https://clairemiller.net/) - Telling stories through Data Journalism and Freedom of Information - helping you improve your skills with resources and training!
- [Newsletter sign-up](https://clairemiller.net/newsletter-sign-up/) - Want to keep up to date with data journalism and freedom of information news and tips? Join the mailing list so you don't miss an update.
- [Privacy Notice](https://clairemiller.net/privacy-notice/) - Privacy Notice This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.Contact detailsWhat information we collect, use, and whyLawful bases and data protection rightsWhere we get personal information fromHow long we keep informationWho we share information withSharing information outside the UKHow to complain Contact details Email: hello@clairemiller.net What information we
- [About](https://clairemiller.net/about/) - about me Who I am and what I do about me Data Journalist + FOI Expert My name is ​Claire Miller and I am an award winning investigative data journalist working across national and regional newspapers in the UK, with more than a decade’s experience of using data skills to dig out data, find stories,
- [Contact](https://clairemiller.net/contact/) - Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *Comment or Message *Sign-up to our newsletter?CommentSubmit you can do it. I can show you how connect with me
- [Portfolio](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/) - All Data Journalism Stories Freedom of Information Stories Interactive Investigations Opinion Pieces

## Courses

- [Making use of the Freedom of Information Act](https://clairemiller.net/courses/making-use-of-the-freedom-of-information-act/) - Interested in the Freedom of Information Act, but not sure where to start? This 40 minute training will take you through the basics of the FOI Act in the UK...

## Lessons

- [Some extra resources...](https://clairemiller.net/lessons/some-extra-resources/) - Need FOI ideas? This is a massive list or FOI Friday rounds up FOI stories in the news each week Want to know when your response will be due back - even if they ask for clarification or you ask for an internal review, I've got a request tracker for that Got a refusal to
- [Video training](https://clairemiller.net/lessons/video-training/) - This 40 minute video will introduce you to the Freedom of Information Act in the UK. It also covers: How to make a request Tips to improve your request and hopefully make it more likely you'll get a response Time limits for responses, including requests for clarification and public interest tests How and when to

## My Library

- [Footer](https://clairemiller.net/?oceanwp_library=footer) - Want to keep up to date with data journalism and freedom of information news and tips? Join the mailing list so you don't miss an update. Newsletter

## Portfolio

- [Every number is a life: The child poverty crisis in stats](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/every-number-is-a-life-the-child-poverty-crisis-in-stats/) - Child poverty is at a record high. That means millions of children surviving on food bank visits and missing out on parts of childhood many take for granted. But how did we get here? And what do we do about it?In the year to April 2024, 4.45 million children were living in poverty, according to
- [London’s missing family homes](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/londons-missing-family-homes/) - Not only is London not building enough homes, but the city is especially bad at building “family homes” — which we’ll define as homes with three or more bedrooms. You can see this by comparing London to the other English regions. In 2023/24, over half of newly built homes were two beds, according to government
- [The 10 places that are now the poorest parts of Wales](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/the-10-places-that-are-now-the-poorest-parts-of-wales/) - The poorest places in Wales in 2019 have been revealed in new official Welsh Government statistics. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation is published once every five years and looks at income levels, the health of residents, education levels, housing quality and access to services. It is intended to highlight the areas that are in
- [Police target two kids, 11, with Tasers](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/police-target-two-kids-11-with-tasers/) - TASERS have been used against children as young as 11 in the Grimsby area in the past year. Two 11-year-olds in the borough were red dotted with tasers by police in 2016, making them among the youngest children tasers were used against in the UK last year. Grimsby Telegraph, July 10, 2017
- [Locking up a fortune](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/locking-up-a-fortune/) - NEW figures show the rising cost of keeping a prisoner in jail in Nottingham. The average cost per prisoner at HMP Nottingham in 2017-18 was £35,673, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice. Nottingham Post, October 29, 2018
- [£1bn homes nightmare](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/1bn-homes-nightmare/) - THE Tory housing crisis is costing taxpayers more than £1billion every year, a Mirror investigation reveals today. A shortage of affordable homes means record numbers of homeless people are living in temporary accommodation. Daily Mirror, March 5, 2018
- [Taser use figures revealed as specials set to be armed](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/taser-use-figures-revealed-as-specials-set-to-be-armed/) - Police in Avon and Somerset used Tasers more than 1,300 times in one year - as volunteer officers are set to be armed with the stun guns. Home Secretary Priti Patel announced at the Police Federation Conference that special constables will be allowed to carry Tasers, if authorised by their chief officers. Volunteers will receive
- [City homeless people facing increasing waits to leave hospital due to having nowhere to live](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/city-homeless-people-facing-increasing-waits-to-leave-hospital-due-to-having-nowhere-to-live/) - VULNERABLE and homeless people were stuck in hospital in Coventry for the equivalent of almost two years last year - because of delays finding them somewhere to live. Exclusive analysis of NHS figures show the number of delayed days caused by a lack of housing has more than tripled in the past year in Coventry. Coventry
- [PAY..OR DOG DIES](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/pay-or-dog-dies/) - DOG owners are living in fear of losing their beloved pets to criminal gangs after thefts spiralled in lockdown, a Mirror probe reveals. Owners have told how they received menacing ransom demands after their dogs were snatched - one man was told his chihuahua Molly's throat would be cut if he failed to pay a
- [England's most oversubscribed schools named as parents struggling to secure kids a place](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/englands-most-oversubscribed-schools-named-as-parents-struggling-to-secure-kids-a-place/) - Nearly nine in 10 parents didn't get their first choice of a place at England’s most oversubscribed school. Exclusive figures show just 11% of those who put The Royal School, Wolverhampton, in Wolverhampton, as their first choice secondary secured a place for this September. Daily Mirror, September 3, 2022
- [How living in Birmingham affects your chances of getting an honour from The Queen](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/how-living-in-birmingham-affects-your-chances-of-getting-an-honour-from-the-queen/) - You're much more likely to get an honour from the queen if you DON'T live in the West Midlands. Since 2008, 658 honours have been given out in the Birthday and New Year’s honours list to people who gave their address as being in the West Midlands met area. Birmingham Live. January 9, 2019
- [Police use force against black people five times more than people who are white](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/police-use-force-against-black-people-five-times-more-than-people-who-are-white/) - Police are five times more likely to use force against black people than white people, new government figures show. Data from the Home Office show police in England and Wales used force tactics at a rate of 90 per 10,000 white people but 450 per 10,000 black people in 2018/19. Daily Mirror, June 5, 2020
- [Thousands of elderly residents kicked out in 'tsunami' of private care home closures](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/thousands-of-elderly-residents-kicked-out-in-tsunami-of-private-care-home-closures/) - Thousands of families face the trauma of seeing elderly loved ones kicked out of care homes amid a “tsunami” of providers closing. The number of private care givers handing back local authority contracts has more than tripled in 22 months, research by the Mirror has revealed. Daily Mirror, February 17, 2022
- [Number waiting for routine ops surges to 11,000](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/number-waiting-for-routine-ops-surges-to-11000/) - The number of North East patients waiting more than a year for routine operations has rocketed to more than11,000, figures have revealed. NHS England data shows that at the end of January 2020, 13 people across the region had been waiting over 52 weeks for planned elective surgery, such as knee or hip operations The
- [Cost of living calculator: Find out how much your bills are rising in price](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/cost-of-living-calculator-find-out-how-much-your-bills-are-rising-in-price/) - Households across the UK are facing the toughest cost of living crisis in 40 years as bills continue to soar. This winter, we’re braced to see another huge energy bill hike with worrying predictions that the Ofgem price cap could hit over £5,000. Daily Mirror. August 24, 2022
- [The attack on Freedom of Information laws is an attack on democracy](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio/the-attack-on-freedom-of-information-laws-is-an-attack-on-democracy/) - The Freedom of Information Act is a vital part of our democracy. We should not be looking at ways to diminish it, we should be finding ways to make it stronger. FOI helps inform and drive public debate, prevent poor decision making and costly mistakes, and highlight abuses or areas where vulnerable people are not

## Categories

- [Blog](https://clairemiller.net/category/blog/) - Your blog category
- [Freedom of Information](https://clairemiller.net/category/freedom-of-information/)
- [Open Data](https://clairemiller.net/category/open-data/)
- [Data Journalism](https://clairemiller.net/category/data-journalism/)
- [Dodgy Statistics](https://clairemiller.net/category/dodgy-statistics/)
- [Data Visualisation](https://clairemiller.net/category/data-visualisation/)

## Tags

- [foi](https://clairemiller.net/tag/foi/)
- [foifriday](https://clairemiller.net/tag/foifriday/)
- [data](https://clairemiller.net/tag/data/)
- [open wales](https://clairemiller.net/tag/open-wales/)
- [transparency](https://clairemiller.net/tag/transparency/)
- [cleaning data](https://clairemiller.net/tag/cleaning-data/)
- [data analysis](https://clairemiller.net/tag/data-analysis/)
- [geocoding](https://clairemiller.net/tag/geocoding/)
- [maps](https://clairemiller.net/tag/maps/)
- [open refine](https://clairemiller.net/tag/open-refine/)
- [R](https://clairemiller.net/tag/r/)
- [scraping](https://clairemiller.net/tag/scraping/)
- [spreadsheets](https://clairemiller.net/tag/spreadsheets/)
- [sql](https://clairemiller.net/tag/sql/)
- [tableau](https://clairemiller.net/tag/tableau/)
- [visualisation](https://clairemiller.net/tag/visualisation/)
- [foi ideas](https://clairemiller.net/tag/foi-ideas/)
- [statistics](https://clairemiller.net/tag/statistics/)
- [understanding numbers](https://clairemiller.net/tag/understanding-numbers/)
- [coding](https://clairemiller.net/tag/coding/)
- [journalism](https://clairemiller.net/tag/journalism/)
- [google fusion tables](https://clairemiller.net/tag/google-fusion-tables/)
- [data journalism book](https://clairemiller.net/tag/data-journalism-book/)
- [getting started with data journalism](https://clairemiller.net/tag/getting-started-with-data-journalism/)
- [foi exemption](https://clairemiller.net/tag/foi-exemption/)
- [intended for future publication](https://clairemiller.net/tag/intended-for-future-publication/)
- [section 22](https://clairemiller.net/tag/section-22/)
- [opinion](https://clairemiller.net/tag/opinion/)
- [accessible by other means](https://clairemiller.net/tag/accessible-by-other-means/)
- [section 21](https://clairemiller.net/tag/section-21/)
- [cost limit](https://clairemiller.net/tag/cost-limit/)
- [section 12](https://clairemiller.net/tag/section-12/)
- [data journalism for beginners](https://clairemiller.net/tag/data-journalism-for-beginners/)
- [AI](https://clairemiller.net/tag/ai/)
- [Blogging](https://clairemiller.net/tag/blogging/)
- [ChatGPT](https://clairemiller.net/tag/chatgpt/)
- [elections](https://clairemiller.net/tag/elections/)
- [Flourish](https://clairemiller.net/tag/flourish/)
- [graphs](https://clairemiller.net/tag/graphs/)

## Portfolio Categories

- [Opinion Pieces](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-category/opinion/)
- [Freedom of Information Stories](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-category/freedom-of-information/)
- [Data Journalism Stories](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-category/data-journalism/)
- [Interactive](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-category/interactive/)
- [Investigations](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-category/investigation/)

## Portfolio Tags

- [Cost of Living](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/cost-of-living/)
- [Calculator](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/calculator/)
- [Daily Mirror](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/daily-mirror/)
- [Energy Prices](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/energy-prices/)
- [NHS](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/nhs/)
- [Data](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/data/)
- [The Journal](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/the-journal/)
- [Health](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/health/)
- [Statistics](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/statistics/)
- [NHS England](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/nhs-england/)
- [FOI](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/foi/)
- [Social Care](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/social-care/)
- [Investigation](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/investigation/)
- [Police](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/police/)
- [Social Justice](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/social-justice/)
- [Birmingham Live](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/birmingham-live/)
- [New Years Honours](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/new-years-honours/)
- [Schools](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/schools/)
- [Education](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/education/)
- [Crime](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/crime/)
- [Pets](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/pets/)
- [Housing](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/housing/)
- [Homelessness](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/homelessness/)
- [Coventry Telegraph](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/coventry-telegraph/)
- [Bath Chronicle](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/bath-chronicle/)
- [Prison](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/prison/)
- [Nottingham Post](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/nottingham-post/)
- [Polic](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/polic/)
- [WalesOnline](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/walesonline/)
- [Wales](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/wales/)
- [Index of Multiple Deprivation](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/index-of-multiple-deprivation/)
- [Pollution](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/pollution/)
- [The Londoner](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/the-londoner/)
- [London](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/london/)
- [The Lead](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/the-lead/)
- [Poverty](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/poverty/)
- [Explainer](https://clairemiller.net/portfolio-tag/explainer/)