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: Driving test interpreters, hospital inspection reports, school bus cuts … and getting more from police numbers

1. Driving test interpreters We’ve seen a few FOI success stories out of the Driving Standards Agency, which runs driving test centres. The latest one, though, from the Brighton Argus, could demonstrate that the agency is the gift which keeps on giving. The Argus reports on the number of people taking their test who required an interpreter

FOI Friday: Private detectives, bus lanes, stray dogs and mental health abscondees

Spending on private detectives A different take on how councils snoop on people – how much one council spent on hiring private detectives. Answer: £100,000 at Carmarthenshire Council, reports the Swansea Evening Post. Bus lane fines Fed up of FOI requests about speeding tickets or parking fines? How about asking how many bus lane infringements

FOI: The minister who had to use FOI to find out about his own department

An interesting line from James Forsyth in his Spectator column this week: It is difficult to understate the depth of ministerial frustration. One secretary of state is so fed up with his department’s refusal to answer his questions that he has asked a friend of his, an MP, to put in a Freedom of Information

FOI Friday: 10 things we learnt this week thanks to the Freedom of Information Act

Here’s the first FOI Friday round up of 2010. I’ll be posting a round up of the stories which made the papers over the Christmas period in the next couple of days 1. Phone masts You’d think something as controversial as a mobile phone mast would need planning permission at a planning meeting. If you