FOI Friday: Council workers earning less than a living wage, mental health wards and publicly-funded competitions

From revealing the impact of hospital ward closures to the number of people working for councils below a living wage – here are 10 FOI ideas from around the country

FOI Friday: Problem families, housing benefit cheats, kids in cells and unsolved crimes

1. How many ‘problem families’ have moved into your area? It’s not often it’s worth flagging up an FOI request before a result has come back, but this is a little different. The Ledbury Reporter newspaper reports on how Ledbury Town Council is trying to find out how many ‘problem families’ have been allocated housing

FOI Friday: Council employee compo, eating disorders, gypsy education and spying

 1.  Employer liability claims against councils Lancahsire County Council paid out £1,250 to a member of staff who got a bad back from carrying a heavy refreshments tray while on duty. That was one of 179 claims made against LCC, reported by the Lancashire Evening Post, over the past four years – payouts have totalled

FOI Friday: Posh cars, charity cuts, ambulance waits and smoking fines

1. The cuts, they hurt  Good stuff from the Lancashire Telegraph as it set out to find where the cuts are falling at local councils, and who is suffering. For this FOI, it zoomed in on the amount being given out in grants to community groups and charities. No surprise, they’ve been cut. But the level

20 FOI ideas to kick off 2011

There has been a spike in traffic coming to my blog this week using the search term ‘FOI ideas.’ Quiet first week back at the office maybe? So, here are 20 FOI ideas to kick off 2011, in no particular order. Happy new year! 1. Call outs to pubs and clubs Which pubs and clubs

FOI FRIDAY: Cuts, cuts and cuts – 10 FOI stories connected to spending

With the spending cuts being brought into sharp focus this week, I thought it’d be a good idea to look at some of the spending-related Freedom of Information requests which have made headlines in recent weeks. At a time when every pound spent is being accounted for, using FOI to keep the public informed of

FOI FRIDAY: 10 things we’ve learnt this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act

From an increase in food poisoning due to the recession to the councillors who haven’t let the credit crunch reduce their appetite for free food, there’s been a very mixed bag of revelations thanks to FOI this week… 1. The health impact of the recession The recession has been blamed for many things and, it