Tagged: London Evening Standard
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: 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 on cost grounds. More than 20,000 cases were dropped in London, a rise on previous years, with critics saying costs are increasingly a factor. One which could run and run elsewhere?
2. Another case of the cost of the obese
FOI requests asking hospitals about what they’ve spent on equipment to deal with obese people are nothing new – but asking the ambulance service could bring in some interesting results, as this story on the Daily Post in North Wales proves.
Here’s a new take on the parking tickets FOI. We’ve all done FOIs about the how much hospitals make from parking charges, but how many parking tickets do they issue? In Aberdeen, it’s around 2000 fines a year. A nice sideline if ever there was one?
FOI FRIDAY: Prisoner DVDs, pot hole surprise, selling hospitals and policing the EDL
Wha't's that Nemo? Don't worry about the shark, you'll never guess who's watching us at HMP Durham?
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 a hospital (Peterborough Evening Telegraph)
With selling off land and buildings one option for many public bodies suddenly short of cash, this FOI from the Evening Telegraph could be interesting. They used FOI to ask the Peterborough and Stamford NHS Trust how much they had spent on consultants relating to the planned sale of the hospital site in Peterborough. The answer was £600,000 – before a buyer is even found.
The cost of policing the EDL (Lancashire Telegraph)
I get irritate by the fact journalists are constantly told to use FOI to find out how much the police spent on specific events. It should be quite easy to work out, why can’t press officers just find out? The Lancashire Telegraph turned to FOI to find out how much it had cost to police an English Defence League protest in Blackburn. The answer is £1.4million.
Discrimination payouts (London Evening Standard)
The Evening Standard reports on £10million in payouts for cases brought against health trusts and councils in London for discrimination – age, sex, disability and so on. The £10million was made up of out-of-court settlements. This could be a gift that gives all over the country.
The expenses of university top brass (Western Mail)
The Western Mail is the latest paper to put FOIs to universities to good effect, getting details of the credit card and expenses claims from uni top brass:
Senior staff at universities in Wales have run up credit card and expenses bills of more than £182,000 in two years, claiming for chauffeur services, luxurious hotels and meals.
The vice-chancellor of Glamorgan University spent £3,037 on chauffeur services.
A former deputy vice-chancellor at Newport University charged £239.96 in expenses to a credit card – spent on bean bag website Bean Bag Bazaar.
Pay rises at colleges (Yorkshire Evening Post)
Redundancies at further education colleges have become quite common in recent months as bosses look to balance the books. The Yorkshire Evening Post gave some added context to redundancies in Leeds by using FOI to find out how the salaries of vice principles have changed. They’ve gone up 18% since 2010.
Attacks on speed cameras (BBC)
Police forces have often used attacks on speed cameras as a reason for not revealing data about specific cameras. So this FOI makes interesting reading on the BBC Website – the number of speed cameras attacked in Wales.
Library fines (Bracknell Standard)
Ok, so we’ve seem the library fines FOI before, but I wanted to mention this one because it also broke down how much was owed by members at each library, making for an entertaining ‘which area is worst’ article.
Getting tough on pot holes (Birmingham Mail)
The Birmingham Mail used FOI to find out how many claims for damages to cars caused by pot holes Birmingham City Council had received, and how much had been paid out. It turns out the real story was the number of complaints the council was rejecting, using little-known laws to do so.
And finally…. A gift which keeps on giving (Sunday Sun and others)
The DVLA must be dead chuffed someone asked them for details of the number of drivers in their area who have more than 12 points on their licence. It is a gift which keeps on giving – as this story in the Sunday Sun proves. It’s cropping up all over the place.
FOI Friday: Cops on desk duty, idle ambulances, data losses, council refurbishments and schoolchild crimes
'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello - are you on the frontline or not?
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 total, 7per cent of the force’s police officers are on restrictive duties. (Source: Manchester Evening News)
There’s a newish offence of extreme pornography – and the Brighton Argus was quick off the mark to report on an FOI about the first arrests made under the law. According to their FOI request, three men were arrested on possession of extreme pornography. (Source: Brighton Argus)
Ambulances in Gwent, in South Wales, spent 20,000 hours over the last two years hanging around due to delays at hospitals, or 868 days. The cost is about £1.5million. Lost time is defined as anything above 20 minutes, and this information has to be recorded by ambulance trusts. Asking for the number of occasions an ambulance was delayed could also pay dividends. (Source: South Wales Argus)
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…
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 to find out how many knives were found on people going into courts in Lancashire – more than 200.
2. Things that go bump in the night
The Cambridge News reports on an FOI request which reveals the number of reports made to the police about ghostly sightings. Twelve reports have been made in the last two years, with details of each case reported.
3. Cost of the World Cup bid to councils
With the World Cup bid now little more than a wrecked dream, the Birmingham Mail has been quick to find out how much it cost local councils, given that Birmingham was battling to be a host city. Birmingham spent £350,000 – news which will no doubt cheer the 7,000 council staff currently facing the axe.
FOI Friday: Speed cameras, fines in a free car park, under-aged sex and naughty BBC employees
1. Fun with speed camerasAuthorities 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 some useful information out of police forces in Wales, asking how many cameras were active (ie switched on) on a chosen date.
2. Cost of closing a development agency
For all the coalition government talk about development agencies not providing value for money, there’s been little discussion of the cost of winding them up. One way to look at the cost of closing something down is to ask for the redundancy costs. The Lancashire Telegraph reports on an FOI request which revealed the redundancy bill at the North West Development Agency currently stands at £1.8million. Every little helps, and all that….
3. Fined for parking in a free car park
The Wokingham Times, like many newspapers, FOI’d the local council to find out how many parking tickets had been issued by the council and where. But it went beyond the top-line ‘total number’ of tickets in the story which followed, pointing out some interesting facts such as the number of tickets issued in car parks which were designated as free. Local knowledge + good FOI = better story?
At a time when councils are (rightly) pleading poverty, it’s worth asking how much they have in the bank as a result of Section 106 planning conditions – money developers have to pay the council to carry our improvements in an area as a result of a new development. For example, many councils will ask for money towards a new play park. The Bristol Evening Post did that and found there was £5million sat in the bank – it also reported where the money was meant to be spent.
FOI Friday: NHS bonuses, crimes solved by PCSOs, hidden emails and a caution for serious crimes
1. Donald Trump v the vandalsIt’s golf dominating the news today so I’ll start with the Press and Journal in Aberdeen with a golf-related FOI. Donald Trump’s plans for a golf course there have upset many, and the P&J reports on the number of vandal attacks reported to police as a result of the project – presumably by protesters.
A fascinating FOI reported in the Portsmouth News involving a woman who asked for any emails written in relation to the death of her mother in hospital. Receiving one which included the reference ‘the fun starts here’ was a bit of a shock. Perhaps encouraging more readers to use FOI could pay dividends?
3. The impact of housing benefit
The Lancashire Evening Post revealed a fascinating set of data when using FOI to ask for housing benefits payments in the city. Payments have risen £5million in the last year – a sign of the recession maybe? – with one in 12 people in the city getting payments.
4. Raping a teenager aged 13? That’ll be a caution
This FOI won’t be new to some, but the Coventry Telegraph’s results from asking Warwickshire Police to reveal the number of people let off with a caution, and for what, are quite startling.
FOI Friday: 10 things we’ve learnt thanks to Freedom of Information this week
The council which was paid to grit – but then didn’t do its own roads
We start this week in the North East, with The Journal in Newcastle. It reported this week that council chiefs have provoked anger after it emerged they gritted a Porsche garage car park while leaving areas outside pensioners’ homes untreated.
Details were released after a Freedom of Information request to the council, asking for details relating to gritting after Christmas Eve, as the region was gripped by the coldest snap in years. Who knew that councils took on private jobs like this?
Breast implant lost in hospitals
I suspect that never in his/her wildest dreams did the reporter who submitted an FOI to Kings Hospital asking for a list of items handed in as lost property expect to get this result. But, according to the response published in the South London Press, a breast implant, Italian passport and a Liverpool Football Club season ticket were among items lost at the South London hospital
Swine flu jab uptake among medical staff
The BBC in London discovered just one in three frontline medical staff had been vaccinated against swine flu, after posing a question under FOI to the strategic health authority, NHS London. NHS London insisted the vaccine take-up was “encouraging” and rising, with more than 60,000 staff having had the jab.
FOI Friday: 10 things we’ve learnt thanks to Freedom of Information this week
I said last week I’d blog in a different post about good FOI stories which emerged as Christmas specials in newspapers over Christmas – I meant to do it this week but didn’t get chance.
So, for now, here are 10 stories generated via FOI which have appeared in the regional media over the past seven days:
The BBC’s Inside Out programme in the West Midlands found a very interesting story when it sent over 70 FOIs to councils and police forces to discover how many cab and taxi drivers had been given licences despite having criminal convictions. Despite offences including drugs and indecent assault, some 209 drivers were given licences, the BBC found. Interesingly, these decision tend to have to be made at supposedly public licensing committee meetings, but this sort of information is normally dealt with in private session so as not to reveal personal details about an applicant, so FOI really is the only way to find this information out.
2. Compensation claims from the MoD
The Sun used FOI to find out what the Ministry of Defence had compsensated people for, other than injuries suffered in combat. Among the results was this gem:
A farmer has been paid £42,000 by the Ministry of Defence after he claimed his chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the noise from jets including the Red Arrows.
A compare and contrast with the amount paid to injured soldiers made this story what it really is. It’s also an FOI which could be replicated across all walks of government, local and national.
3. Checking out how effective new legislation is
The Stage magazine reports that FOI has revealed how effective new legislation design to protect would-be performers from dodgy agents has been. Basically, it banned the practice of up-front fees. Admittedly, the fact 60 such agents have had action taken against them, with362 complaints made, is quite a niche story – but the principle of using FOI to check out how well a headline-grabbing piece of legislation has actually been has paid off once again.
