FOI Friday: Illegal immigrants, councils using dating sites, suspended staff and the long cost of PFI

How many miles of roadworks in your area? < < < In Cumbria

MOTORISTS in Cumbria face around 600 miles of roadworks every year.

Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information response showed that, at the end of January, there were 217 miles of roadworks to be completed by the end of this month.

The figures, from the county council, also revealed there were a total of 645 miles of roadworks due to be completed during 2012/13 – down on the 937 in the previous year

Stressed police on the rise < < < East Anglian Daily Times

THE number of days stressed police officers have taken off sick has doubled to more than 9,000 in the past three years, new figures have revealed.

The statistics, released by Essex Police following a Freedom of Information request, reflect the number of stress-related absences within the constabulary since 2010.

Officers took 9,139 days, including weekends and rest days, off due to stress last year – a sharp rise on the 4,594 sick days recorded in 2010.

£66,00 spent on suspended council staff < < < Harrow Times

Harrow East MP Bob Blackman says it is “utterly ridiculous” that Harrow Borough Council has spent more than £660,000 over the past two years paying suspended staff not to work.

Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request from Mr Blackman show the council has paid 97 suspended members of staff between April 2009 and February 2012.

The Conservative MP accused the council of being “bad value for money” despite cutting services and raising council tax.

FOI FRIDAY: Lost property, tobacco investments, repeat offenders and long ambulance waits

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media:

The longest ambulance delays – Huddersfield Examiner

Tony Blair – and politicians in general – may not be made keen on the Freedom of Information Act, but it doesn’t stop them using it to dig out figures which suit their political agenda. In this case, it’s also information which should give cause for concern. Labour used FOI to find out how long people were waiting in ambulances when getting to hospitals – the longest example in Yorkshire being nearly four hours, a fact reported by the Examiner.

Lost property handed into police – Manchester Evening News

A budgie, Bing Crosby records and £23,078 in cash are among the items, as well as a Porsche, a kite, five flatscreen televisions, and a bag of 14 Kit Kat bars – all among the list of things handed in to police as lost property items in Greater Manchester.

Freed prisoners and the crimes they commit – Birmingham Mail

Criminals released from jail early or handed a suspended or community sentence went on to commit more than 33,000 offences in just two years. Figures obtained by the Birmingham Mail revealed that almost a third of all convicted felons in the West Midlands went on to re-offend within 12 months of being let out on licence or handed a non-custodial sentence. Some of the offenders went on to commit serious violence, sexual assaults, robberies and even child sex attacks.

FOI Friday: Crime-ridden leisure centres, true truancy figures, NHS lay offs and Olympic torch costs

Apologies for the delay in the latest FOI Friday – a bad dose of chickenpox in our house has made keeping on top of it harder than usual! As ever, this is list is compiled using Google News and from suggestions sent to me on Twitter @davidhiggerson

Crimes committed at leisure centres < < < Welwyn Hatfield Times

A variation on an old favourite – list the crimes committed at X – yields some interesting results when X becomes a leisure centre:

OUTRAGING public decency and grievous bodily harm are just two of the crimes reported at Welwyn Hatfield leisure centres in the past two years.

Venues hired by councils < < < Leicester Mercury

An interesting example of council spending being held to account through FOI. Trade unions have been critical of the decision to hire conference facilities for meetings. The council, I guess, argues it has nowhere big enough to house 400 people. But do you really need 400 people in a room to talk transport?

Parking tickets overturned < < < Swindon Advertiser

What are the chances of getting a parking ticket overturned in Wiltshire? One in six, according to information obtained by the Swindon Advertiser. I liked the council’s defence of the high appeal success rate:

Swindon Council said the fact that so many tickets were successfully challenged was a good thing, because it shows the council is prepared to listen to complaints.

A spokesman said: “We cancel a lot of penalty charge notices because we’re prepared to listen to people if they have a reasonable excuse.

“Drivers should be reassured by this – they would have more reason to be worried if we didn’t cancel many.”

Of course, with prevention always better than cure, getting the tickets issued correctly in the first place would be better.

Reducing hospital bed numbers and overcrowding < < < BBC

Interesting stats obtained by the BBC from Welsh health boards which reveal 1000 hospital beds have disappeared in the country in the last three years. It’s not as if there isn’t demand – hospitals are regularly overcrowded now, according to the figures.

FOI Friday: Credit card spending, charging for policing, domestic abuse homelessness and noisy people

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media:

1. Unpaid parking fines < < < Scunthorpe Telegraph

Just shy of £250k has gone unpaid in Scunthorpe over the past three years. Not a new FOI request theme, but a relevant one: If councils are so hard up, then why not chase the money which they’ve spent money to issue the fines for in the first place?

2. Credit card spending of senior police officials < < < Yorkshire Post

We’ve seen FOI requests before for the credit card spending of senior policemen, or councillors or council chief executives – but how many police authorities issue credit credits to their chief executives? In Cleveland they did – and the spending seems incredible.

3. Charging for policing < < < Cumberland News

In Cumbria, the police have charge organisations £100,000 for covering events such as music festivals. No controversy here – unless you believe all policing should be free – but interesting numbers all the same.

FOI FRIDAY: Hospital cancellations, CCTV in schools, care home dumping and complaints about students

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media:

100,000 hospital cancellations < < < Ayrshire Post

Scotland has a different Freedom of Information Act, but this FOI is one which should work anywhere: The number of hospital appointments cancelled (by the hospital) both as a percentage of total hospital appointments and as a whole number. In the case of Ayrshire, it’s due to a computer malfunction, but it could work anywhere.

CCTV cameras in schools < < < Big Brother Watch

Of course, FOI stories from campaign groups always come with a health warning, but Big Brother Watch did publish its FOI request and methodology to show exactly where the data had come from. Its decision to name so many schools which had CCTV cameras resulted in coverage everywhere. So why include it here? Well, it didn’t publish details for every school, and didn’t go after primary schools either. And this story shows the value of making the time to approach schools individually, rather than just relying on local authorities.

School place refusals < < < Rossendale Free Press

This is just a personal opinion, but I think too many newspapers underplay the value of school places and schools data stories to readers. I would imagine (given my daughter is only 16 months old) that not getting a school place is very traumatic. Using FOI to understand the scale of school place rejections, therefore, seems like a very good idea.

FOI Friday: Rescuing fat people, dirty football grounds, spending on Facebook and young drink drivers

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media:

1. Bomb hoaxes at universities – Cambridge News

Universities, as a rule, hate being covered by the Freedom of Information Act – which is one of the reasons I like to see stories generated by it. This one is interesting – 46 bomb hoaxes at Cambridge university already this year? Surprised? I was.

2. Claiming over the odds expenses – Wilts Standard

The HMRC advised level for personal car mileage for company purposes is 45p. So why is a council letting staff and councillors claim almost 50p a mile – with no cap? A good FOI from the Wilts Standard which leaves some questions to be answered.

3. Fewer police than in the 1970s – Stoke Sentinel

Good use of FOI to get historic data to prove that in Staffordshire, there are now fewer officers on the beat than in the 1970s. And a good interactive chart at the bottom too.

4. Invisible councillors – Boston Standard

This is data which, quite frankly, should be posted after every council meeting: Who attended and who didn’t. But seeing as it isn’t, the FOI Act is the way to get it. A good way for the Boston Standard to hold its councillors to account.

5. Youngest drink driver – Birmingham Mail

A 14-year-old done for drink driving? According to FOI requests in Birmingham, that’s the case.

6. Hidden criminal offences of taxi drivers – Watford Observer

What job would you expect to be precluded from if you had a criminal record for causing death by dangerous driving? I’d put taxi driver on that list. Thank’s to FOI, we know that’s not the case in Bushey, near Watford.

7. Spending on Facebook – BBC

An interesting one from the BBC – finding out the Government has been spending £100,000 on Facebook advertising. There’s no doubt the public sector has become more social media savvy in recent times – has the spending gone there too.

8. Cable thefts – Norwich Evening News

Cable thefts from railway tracks are rarely away from the news – largely due to the problems they cause travellers – but 314 in a year in one area? Good stats under FOI from British Transport Police.

9. Dirty kitchens at a football stadium – Bolton News

I’ve mentioned this style of FOI a few times before but it is worth mentioning again – asking for the environmental health reports covering venues of public interest – in this case, the football arena at Bolton. And you’d have thought it was enough to have performances on the pitch making people potentially sick….

10. Called out to rescue fat people – Manchester Evening News

And finally – the number of times firemen have been called out to help paramedics move fat people.

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FOI Friday is compiled using Google News and tip-offs sent to this blog or to me via Twitter @davidhiggerson

 

 

FOI FRIDAY: Booze seized, student homes, £690 a shift at the council and meals worth £150k thrown away

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national media:

1. The rise in the number of student homes (Falmouth Packet)

A startling statistic emerging from a Freedom of Information request which is then built upon to find out the impact behind said statistic – the recipe for a strong FOI-based story as demonstrated by the Falmouth Packet. One in 10 homes in Falmouth are now ‘Class N’ properties according to the council – meaning 10% of homes don’t pay council tax because they are occupied by students, a 653% increase on 2000.

2. Number of children disappearing from care doubles (Northampton Chronicle and Echo)

Demonstrating the value of asking for historic data as well as current data is this story from the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, which revealed the number of children in care going missing has doubled in two years. The story gets added depth from revealing the ages of the youngest to go missing – ages eight and nine.

3. £690 a shift at Cambridgeshire County Council  (Cambridge News)

Nice work if you can get it, perhaps, but the Cambridge News revealed, under FOI, that up to £690 a shift was being paid for casual workers at Cambridgeshire County Council.

FOI Friday: Truancy figures done properly, the data protection FOI strikes gold again, and a greater focus on public transport crime

 

10 good examples of FOI in action from the local, regional and national press:

1. The injuries caused to postmen by dogs – Wales On Sunday

Dog bites postman may not be the most original story of all time – but the injuries postmen in Wales receive when attacked by dogs was certainly eye-opening – from serious injuries to the skull to the slightly more comical, but I suspect very painful, bites on the backside

2. Using FOI to disprove council reasoning for closures – Huddersfield Examiner

This is a brilliant example of how FOI can be used to challenge arguments put forward by councils. Kirklees Council plans to shut a whole bunch of libraries because it can’t afford them. But is it closing the right ones? The Examiner has brought that into question by obtaining the cost to run each library, and dividing it by the number of visits to each library? Some of the most cost effective are the ones at risk.

3. Overpaid Council workers – Kent Messenger

Kent County Council has overpaid council workers (insert Taxpayers Alliance smart comment here) by £1.5million in the last three years due to payroll errors. An interesting story to pursue at a time of cuts?

4. Civil claims against hospitals – North West Evening Mail

The problems at Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust’s maternity department have been well documented, but this story – based on an FOI submitted by a member of the public – begs new questions: How did problems persist when civil law suits – 37 since 2002 – were coming in left, right and centre? The principle of asking for the number of claims is worth pursuing in other areas too. In the past, some hospital trusts have diverted such requests to the NHS Litigation Authority – the in-house legal service for the NHS.

However, this FOI proves hospitals can answer the queries, and should be able to say what areas of the hospital civil claims relate to.

5. Teachers being made redundant – Swindon Advertiser

If you believe the government, then education – like health – funding is being protected. The reality, however, can be different. The Swindon Advertiser proved this by asking the council for details of the number of teacher made redundant last year. The number – 11 – is expected to rise. In some areas, this can be a reasonably easy FOI to do, if the council collates the information. If not, or in areas where academies are growing in number, this might be one which has to go to every school.

6. How much are the Olympics costing your area? – South Wales Echo

The cost of the Olympics spreads far beyond London, according to this FOI-based story, which revealed the cost of hosting the torch relay through Cardiff was £140,000, with hundreds of thousands put aside to clean the city ahead of football matches.

7. Attacks on public transport which aren’t resolved – Lancashire Evening Post

This is just a personal opinion, but I often think local and regional newspapers don’t take public transport seriously enough – perhaps because often, so few in a newsroom use buses and trains regularly. This story from the Lancashire Evening Post is a good one – most crimes reported on buses don’t get solved.

8. Data protection breaches – Belfast Telegraph

This is an FOI which comes around from time to time but is always worth doing again and again. Asking health authorities, councils and the police for details of their data protection breaches, which have to be recorded and reported to the Information Commissioner, often yields interesting results … and in the case of this story in Belfast, it’s patient details being posted on Facebook.

9. Truancy facts and figures – Teesside Evening Gazette

Truancy FOIs are ten a penny, but few go into the the level of detail that this one, from the Teesside Evening Gazette, did. It reveals the numbers of days lost, the number of prosecutions, the total amount in fines and – thanks to clever use of Tableau – the value of fine against each day lost through truancy.

10. Petrol thefts – Birmingham Mail

A good example of FOI being the start of the story – getting data on fuel thefts led to a really interesting interview with the police on how they are tackling what appeared to have been a recession-triggered crisis.

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FOI Friday is compiled using Google News and tip-offs sent to this blog or to me via Twitter @davidhiggerson

 

 

 

 

FOI FRIDAY: Mice at Manchester United, appealing students, cabbie grumbles and turning the lights off

Mice raid Manchester United < < < Manchester Evening News

I love this FOI. Simple, but effective – although the sports editor might not thank you

Manchester United had to deal with a mice infestation at Old Trafford, the M.E.N. can reveal. The outbreak was one of a number of hygiene and safety issues flagged up by council officials when they inspected the stadium restaurant, the Red Cafe and the staff canteen, last July. The Red Cafe was given the all-clear but the staff canteen in the West Stand was found to have a mouse infestation.

The council report was obtained by the M.E.N. under Freedom of Information laws. We asked for the results of the most recent hygiene inspections carried out at both Old Trafford and Manchester City’s ground, the Etihad Stadium

The wasted hours of ambulances at hospitals < < < Aldershot News and Mail

This data used to be released regularly – now FOI is required

MORE than 850 hours was lost through ambulance delays at Frimley Park Hospital in the first three months of the year.

Figures obtained by the News & Mail using the Freedom of Information Act show more than 863 hours were lost in turnaround times for ambulances serving the hospital’s A&E department between January and March.

The statistics only include the number of hours lost which went over the trust’s turnaround target of 30 minutes.

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.