FOI FRIDAY: Council lunches, old drug mules, doctor spending and the smoking ban legacy

What’s on the menu for councillors? < < < Sunday Mail

SCOTLAND’S biggest council have increased their spending on gourmet dinners – while hiking the price of meals for OAPs and the vulnerable.

Glasgow City councillors slashed the subsidies for welfare meals in a bid to save £306,000.

The Labour-controlled local authority hiked the cost of lunches at social work services day centres from 81p per day to £2.97.

Under Freedom of Information, the Sunday Mail obtained the menus for all official banquets at the council’s George Square HQ since the new Labour Council were elected in May last year.

When the Malawian High Commissioner visited in January, he and his fellow guests were treated to “Medallions of Salmon on Wilted Greens” finished off with “Raspberry and Passion Fruit Delice”.

At a civic lunch in honour of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, last June, diners enjoyed “Chicken Roulade with Mushroom and Tarragon Mousseline”.

Spending on locum doctors < < < Carlisle News and Star

Hospital chiefs in north Cumbria plan to halve expenditure on locum doctors after spending nearly £19m on them in three years.

Following a Freedom of Information request, the trust released some key statistics about its spending on locums over the last three years.

It revealed that:

• The highest paid doctor, a consultant dermatologist, was paid a rate of £158 per hour;
• 527 locums doctors were employed at the hospitals in east and west Cumbria over the last three years;
• The trust carried out 42,300 operations between February 2011 and January 2013 and cancelled 820 operations in the last two years.
• Locum spending for the last three years was £5,880,000, £4,954,000 and £7,962,000.

FOI Friday: Cannabis, university spending, race crimes at the football and asbestos in council buildings

Unpaid court fines tops £4million – Bedfordshire On Sunday

MORE than £4 million in court fines is owed to courts in Bedfordshire, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The figures, released by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), show that last September the amount of fines owed to the county’s courts stood at £4,286,800.

The criminal with 145 crimes to his names – Newcastle Journal

A ONE-MAN crime wave racked up 145 offences in two years, re-offending figures have revealed.

The string of crimes makes the 20-year-old male from Durham the region’s most prolific offender.

He was closely followed by a 38-year-old female and a 45-year-old male who committed 130 crimes each between January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012, say Durham Constabulary.

In total, the top nine offenders together were responsible for 702 crimes across the force area.

Freedom of Information requests to North East police forces revealed just 19 criminals were behind more than a thousand crimes in the region over the last two years.

1000 council buildings containing Asbestos – North Wales Daily Post

SCHOOLS, leisure centres and public toilets are among more than 1,000 council-owned buildings in North Wales which contain asbestos.

A Freedom of Information request by the Daily Post has revealed that all types of the dangerous substance which is now illegal to use – are found in buildings across the region including the most hazardous material, crocidolite.

The figures showed Gwynedd to have the highest number of buildings containing asbestos with 409 in total, which included Arfon Leisure Centre in Caernarfon, Bangor Swimming Pool and Hafod Y Gest care home in Porthmadog.

Pauper funeral rise in Plymouth – Plymouth  Herald

ALMOST 100 people in Plymouth have been buried in so-called ‘paupers’ graves’.

The depressing statistic paints a harrowing picture of people in the community dying penniless and in isolation.

The figures on state-funded funerals were released to The Herald through the Freedom of Information Act.

But the reality could be much worse, since people who die in hospital are the responsibility of Plymouth Hospitals Trust.

Ho Ho Ho: It wouldn’t be Christmas without Jesus being stolen … and four other festive news favourites (including Christmas Day babies)….

Mince pies. Turkey. Tinsel. The Queen’s Speech in 3D. Traditions are created all the time at Christmas, and it wouldn’t be Christmas without these five Festive-themed stories…

FOI Friday: Bad living conditions, school repair backlogs, teen drug dealers and the return of schoolyard compo

 

Revealing the findings of ‘neighbourhood renewal assessments’ – Stoke Sentinel

Here’s one which could run and run across the country. The Stoke Sentinel reports on the findings of a council ‘neighbourhood renewal assessment’ – the likes of which are carried out by councils all over the place.

A NEW report has painted a sobering picture of just how bad living conditions have become in the Portland Street area.

The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shows how much conditions have deteriorated at some of the houses.

It is based on surveys carried out at 274 properties, a mixture of private rented and owner-occupied homes, as part of the council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment.

Repairs backlogs at schools – Coventry Telegraph

WARWICKSHIRE schools have a staggering £83 million backlog of repairs.

Warwickshire County Council bosses estimated the cost of getting all the county’s schools up to a reasonable standard of repair.

The figures were uncovered by the Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act.

The cost of clearing up after police warrants – South Wales Evening Post

I think there’s a better story in here other than the one the South Wales Evening Post has gone with. It reports on the £5k in compensation the police has paid out for repairs to properties which were damaged during ‘negative warrants’ – ie warrants which were executed but didn’t lead to an arrest or seizure of goods. That’s a good story – but looking at the breakdown of negative v positive warrants, almost half were negative. A better story?

120 ‘foreign objects’ removed from patients in Lincolnshire – Boston Standard

Here’s a curious story. FOI led to the Boston Standard to find out that 120 people had ‘foreign bodies’ removed from them in hospital, yet the hospital couldn’t say what those objects were. The Standard used information from elsewhere in the country to talk about the sorts of objects which could be involved.

Teenage drug dealers – Teesside Evening Gazette

SUSPECTED child drug dealers as young as 15 were among those arrested on Teesside, new figures have revealed.

Officers from Cleveland Police arrested 17 suspected child drug dealers last year.

Five were girls held over claims they were dealing cannabis, and six of the boys, including two 15-year-olds, were risking lengthy prison sentences after allegedly dealing in Class A drugs.

The findings were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Escapes from mental health units – Wigan Evening Post

10% of people admitted to mental health units in Wigan escape, according to the Wigan Evening Post.

Cost of overseas patients not paying up – Scarborough Evening News

This story stands out more because of the level of detail released than anything else:

SCARBOROUGH’S NHS Trust is owed more than £30,000 in hospital bills, racked up by overseas patients not entitled to free treatment.

The figures, obtained via a Freedom of Information request to Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, show that since February 2009, £33,229.41 has either been written off or is currently being chased by the Trust.

The numbers include £10,297 that the trust is still chasing from a Syrian patient who underwent treatment in May 2010.

The highest amount written off was for £5,701, owed to them from a Thai patient who underwent treatment in August and September of 2009.

The books and CDs you aren’t borrowing from the library – Sunday Sun

Tomes such as Old Scottish Clockmakers 1453-1850 and Agrarian History of England and Wales Volume 5 have lined library shelves untouched for decades.

But surprisingly some popular names were also on our list, compiled from Freedom of Information requests by the Sunday Sun.

When it comes to music, in Northumberland, four copies of Coldplay’s album X&Y were only borrowed once last year, the same number as The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.

The return of an old favourite: Schoolyard payouts – Leicester Mercury

A schoolgirl who was burnt when baked beans were spilled on her could be in line for a council pay-out of up to £12,000.

The hot food was spilled on the youngster’s neck at a county council-run school. The authority has now set aside thousands of pounds to cover potential compensation and legal costs.

The incident is one of 63 compensation claims made for injuries sustained at county schools during the past four years, according to new figures. But, of the 29 cases dealt with to date, just five have resulted in a compensation pay-out.

The cost of  council sick pay – Birmingham Post

Birmingham City Council spent £35 million on sick pay for staff last year.

And new figures have revealed employees in some departments are taking more than double the national average of days off ill.

The authority spent £34,856,713 on sick pay between January and December last year, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The council did not reveal the bill for paying agency staff to cover absences, meaning the total cost will be even higher.

FOI Friday: Private detectives, bus lanes, stray dogs and mental health abscondees

Spending on private detectives

A different take on how councils snoop on people – how much one council spent on hiring private detectives. Answer: £100,000 at Carmarthenshire Council, reports the Swansea Evening Post.

Bus lane fines

Fed up of FOI requests about speeding tickets or parking fines? How about asking how many bus lane infringements have occurred, as reported by the Bucks Free Press.

Stray dogs put down

Rather sad figures from the Coventry Telegraph – they revealed, using FOI, that 10% of all stray dogs rounded up in the city get put down.

Patients walking out of mental health units

An FOI story here which is the result of an FOI by a local MP – correctly credited by the Leicester Mercury. Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan says her FOI research shows 40,000 mental health patients just walked out of units, with over 3,000 of those in Leicestershire.

FOI Friday: Brothel raids, B&B costs, farm thefts and cautions for violent crimes

1.Houses of multiple occupancy

Kicking off with a story which may not have been sourced under FOI, but which could be: The Liverpool ECHO reports on the number of properties which have been licensed for use as ‘houses of multiple occupancy’, of which just 25% had planning permission? Why is this an issue? Well, if it’s on your street, you’d want to be able protest about it, wouldn’t you?

2. What police seized in brothel raids

Staying with the Liverpool ECHO, this story combines FOI and the sex trade: Asking the police how many brothels they have raided and, tellingly, what they seized when they raided the places too.

3. The cost of housing homeless people in bed and breakfasts

Some interesting numbers from the Wigan Evening Post, which reports, thanks to FOI, that over the past four years, Wigan Council has spent £200,000 on B&B accommodation for homeless people. A problem that’s getting worse in recession times? Apparently not – but what’s the picture elsewhere?

FOI Friday: Custard spills, charity finances, twocking – and an important breakthrough

Regional Development Agency assets

An important precedent has hopefully been set this week by the Birmingham Post when it comes to FOI. Regional Development Agencies were a relatively late addition to FOI coverage, and since their demise was announced, some have been reluctant to reveal how much they are selling their assets for.

The Birmingham Post this week revealed that Birmingham’s Stock Exchange, set up by Advantage West Midlands in 2007, has been sold for £1. In three years, it has swallowed £3million of public cash.

AWM at first refused to say how much it had been sold for, arguing it was commercially sensitive. The Post has managed to argue otherwie, and AWM changed its mind.

The front page of the Birmingham Post

Recession impact on charities

According to the Warrington Guardian, a third of charities in the town are in the red after grants have been cut and recession hit donations. Reporter Hannah Bargery used FOI to ask the Charities Commission for details about charities in the Warrington borough. The figures she got back revealed that of the 389 registered charities in Warrington, 123 spent more than they received last year.

Students suing schools

You may well have seen this story in the nationals this week but it began life as Monday’s splash in the Liverpool ECHO. FOI was used to ask councils for details of cases where pupils had brought compensation claims against schools. One pupil received £750 for being splashed with custard (presumably at lunchtime) while another got £6k for falling off a chair.

FOI Friday: Uni expenses, shoplifting, driving tests and a speed camera success story

1. The expenses of university top bods

With £9,000 a year tuition fees very likely for many students starting university, there’s probably never been a better time to stick the finances of universities under the FOI microscope. The Sunday Sun has done just that, asking for the expenses of senior officials at universities in its areas:

UNIVERSITY bosses notched up more than £130,000 on credit cards and expenses in two years….on five-star hotels, posh restaurants and supermarket shopping.

A former Teesside University Deputy Vice Chancellor put £116 on the plastic during a trip to a Singapore boozer.

And Northumbria pro-vice chancellor, Professor Paul Croney, claimed for a £652 bill at a Hong Kong bar and restaurant.

The Sunday Sun asked five of the North’s universities – Northumbria, Newcastle, Durham, Teesside and Sunderland – to show us bills submitted by their Pro-Vice Chancellors and Deputy Vice Chancellors over the last two years, a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

The figure – £132,494 spent by the 25 executives whose UK average salary tops £60,000 – has emerged in the week that Newcastle University announced they are planning to join Durham University by charging £9,000 tuition fees.

Can such expenses be tolerated when they are effectively been funded by higher tuition fees?  Some of the best information lies in the smallest details:

More than half of that total  [at Durham] covered a £44,225 ‘Travel Card’ bill for Professor Seth Kunin in the Arts and Humanities department.

And in Teesside – which seems to tell its top staff to buy food for events from supermarkets and claim it back – there was this gem:

Professor Cliff Allan – who has since left for another university – spent £12,509 in the two-years, staying at several five-star hotels in India and China, including The Imperial in New Delhi. He also spent £60.56 on his Barclaycard in Housams 1985 Ltd, a Middlesbrough DIY store – which the university said relates to three “minor items of office equipment”.

During a visit to Singapore in November 2009 he also spent £116.33 in the Cocoon Bar & Supperclub.

There’s a growing rumbling in university circles that universities should be exempt from FOI because they won’t be relying on the public purse directly in years to come. I think we all know that’s more than a little misleading.

2. Speed camera success

To Crawley [and the Observer] we go for an old favourite – the speed camera FOI. I mention it here because Sussex Police has bucked a trend among police forces and revealed the location of the busiest speed camera – ie the one issuing the most tickets – and the number of tickets issued. Other police forces have said no in the past for various reasons, my favourite being the fear that such information could lead to vandalism. For anyone asking this question again, referring to Sussex in the FOI request might be a good idea.

3. Council fat cats – or not

The attacks against council big wigs go on – and the Chorley Guardian spotted one FOI-based national story which showed that four of their council’s officials, between them, earned £500,000. I mention this story here because it’s a good example of taking someone else’s FOI story further, and getting more out of it. In this case, the Guardian got the chief executive,  Donna Hall, to open up her pay package to the paper which provided much more context.

4. Driven around the bend

Good stuff from the Coventry Telegraph which used FOI to find out various statistics from the Driving Standards Agency about driving tests in the Coventry area – including someone who had 25 attempts before passing!

FOI Friday: Investigating business grants, frisky Welsh folk and the 104-year-old criminal

1. Spending money to talk about cuts

The Waltham Forest Guardian reports on an interesting spending choice at the local council – an £18,000 advertising campaign to tell people the council would protect local services which people care about. The campaign follows on from another £27,000 campaign to find out which services people wanted protecting.

2. Complaints against social workers

An interesting story from the Coventry Telegraph, which quotes a report obtained using FOI to reveal who makes complaints against social workers in the area. The most interesting fact is that 10% of complaints are made by young people about their care.

3. Partying on the university budget

I’m never sure whether the active use of FOI by politicians in Wales is a good thing or not – largely because I believe politicians only turn to FOI when they are being denied access to information through other channels which they perhaps have a right to request information through. Either way, an Assembly member in Wales used FOI to find out how much universities were spending on hospitality – four in South Wales clocked up £6.4million over three years. One to chew over?