FOI Friday: Begging arrests, restorative justice and the many languages spoken in schools

Rise in arrests for begging < London Evening Standard A homeless charity says an increase of almost 90 per cent in arrests in London for begging is allowing more drug addicts to get treatment. Statistics released by the Metropolitan Police under the Freedom of Information Act show 730 people were arrested on the city’s streets

FOI Friday: Teachers ignoring FGM advice, fines for school parking, food shoplifting and hospital repairs backlogs

Teachers ignoring FGM guidance < London Evening Standard Less than half of headteachers in London have read official guidance on stopping female genital mutilation, new figures revealed today. The guidance, which tells teachers how to identify girls who are at risk or who have suffered mutilation, was emailed to every school in the country. But

FOI Friday: Air bag thefts, obese toddlers, asbestos in schools and the £26,000 chairs

How much is a broken arm worth? < Eastern Daily Press Victims of crime in Norfolk have been awarded compensation payments of up to £370,000 for injuries including a broken arm, collapsed lung, and even serious brain damage, new figures have revealed. Data from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) show that in the past

FOI FRIDAY: Big benefit claims, football ground safety, spending on temps and how much headteachers earn

  1. School-based hate crimes investigated by the police < < < Western Morning News Sure, we’ve seen FOI requests about the number of reports of racism recorded by schools or local authorities – but this is the first time I’ve seen a figure for the number of times police have been called in to investigate

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

FOI Friday: Speaking clocks, hospital parking fines, gagging orders and snooping on council staff

1. Court cases dropped for ‘not being in the public interest’ Some fascinating numbers reported in the London Evening Standard as a result of an FOI request to the Crown Prosecution Service, which was asked to reveal how many prosecutions in London were dropped ‘because they were no longer in the public interest’ – often

FOI FRIDAY: Prisoner DVDs, pot hole surprise, selling hospitals and policing the EDL

  The DVDs prisoners are allowed to watch (Sunday Sun) An interesting thing to ask from the Sunday Sun: The catalogue of DVDs available for hire inside HMP Durham. The selection is both random – Finding Nemo anyone? – and perhaps worrying – more violent stuff is on the list too. The cost of selling

FOI Friday: Cops on desk duty, idle ambulances, data losses, council refurbishments and schoolchild crimes

Coppers on desk duty The debate rages on about whether government cuts are going to hit frontline services or the just the fabled bloated back offices and the Manchester Evening News came up with a new angle into the discussion this week: the number of frontline police officers on the desk duties through illness. In

FOI Friday (On a Tuesday?): Knives in court, World Cup bid costs and councillor pay rises

I didn’t get round to writing this on Friday – so it’s late. But hopefully, still worthwhile… 1. Seized at the court doors Where’s the one place you might not expect crime to be committed? We’ve already established that police stations are prone to crime, but what about courts? The Lancashire Evening Post used FOI

FOI Friday: Speed cameras, fines in a free car park, under-aged sex and naughty BBC employees

1. Fun with speed cameras Authorities such as councils and police forces have been very reluctant to divulge information about speed cameras in recent times. For example, West Midands Police refused to reveal which cameras made the most cash for fear of vigilante attacks on the cameras involved. But Wales on Sunday managed to get