FOI Friday: Crumbling hospitals, pension funds, foreign patients and stolen monkeys

Crumbling hospitals (Press and Journal) The Press and Journal in Aberdeen reports on how it has forced the local NHS authority to reveal the maintainance backlog at hospitals and health centres in its area. The backlog was first reported last month, but NHS Grampian refused to release the exact details. So the P&J turned to

FOI Friday: Dodging magistrates, the race for Oxbridge, big cats and clearing up after gypsies

How many going to university? Some interesting data from the Western Mail, which used FOI to ask how many students from each of the towns in Wales had been enrolled at Oxford and Cambridge in recent years. In some parts of Wales, not a single student has attended Oxbridge for seven years. No shows at

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: Councils charging for phone calls, ministerial visits, school away days and abuse by carers

This week’s FOI Friday includes three at the bottom which I think could end up running and running all summer long… 1. Details behind hoax calls (Coventry Times) Why would you use FOI to get details about fire brigade hoax calls when the fire brigade is normally so happy to help on this issue? Well,

FOI Friday: 999 attacks, bin fines, obese babies and plastic surgery

Area-by-area crime rates – and how many are solved (Oxford Mail) There’s been a lot of debate about how valuable, or otherwise, the police crime maps are. They tell you about crime a month later, aren’t that accurate when it comes to naming the location and won’t tell you if the crime has been solves.

FOI Friday: FIFA costs, secret letters, mystery names and put down dogs

1. Asking for more than just numbers It’s easy to fall into the trap of just asking for numbers and data under FOI – after all, there’s a heck of a lot to go after. But asking for correspondence between parties, or responses to consultations can often lead to excellent stories too. To illustrate that

FOI FRIDAY: Benefit claims, burial problems, maternity complaints and noisy neighbourhoods

Taken off the sick We start this week in Liverpool, where the ECHO has taken a closer look at the impact of the crackdown on people claiming incapacity benefits. Under FOI, it was able to establish that 1,000 people in Merseyside who had their benefits taken away from them on the grounds they were fit

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

FOI Friday: Cops under probe, postie problems and restaurant reports

1. Cops under probe The Lancashire Telegraph lifted the lid on 50 cases of serious misconduct brought again Lancashire Police officers which were, in the main, kept under wraps. Cases include allegations of assault, theft, drink driving, possession of child porn, fraud, making threats to kill and rape. Of course, 50 cases among such a

FOI Friday: Swine flu deaths, speeding points, paper cuts in hospital and fuel prices

So, how many people did die of swine flu? For reasons known only to itself – although the fact it keeps being named and shamed by the Information Commissioner for its poor record on FOI might be a clue – the North West Strategic Health Authority banned hospital trusts from giving out figures on swine