Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Councils spend £1.7bn repurchasing right-to-buy homes
23/08/2024 Local authorities in England have spent a total of £1.7bn repurchasing former right-to-buy homes, with £1bn of this spent since 2020, analysis reveals. |
Less than 20% of levelling up projects completed
04/03/2024 Fewer than a fifth of projects backed by the Government's £3.6bn Towns Fund were on track to be completed by the end of February, FOI requests have revealed. |
Council issued with FOI enforcement notice
10/05/2023 Shropshire Council has been issued with an enforcement notice for its ‘poor handling’ of freedom of information requests. |
‘Shocking’ number of children in care far from home
25/04/2023 A ‘shocking’ number of children are being moved into care far from their communities, according to a campaigning charity. |
Council receives enforcement notice after FOI failures
22/03/2023 Lewisham Council has been issued with an enforcement notice after failing to respond to hundreds of overdue freedom of information (FOI) requests. |
Council’s handling of FOI request ‘inappropriate’
07/12/2022 The way Sheffield City Council records and labels information is ‘inappropriate’, an investigation into how the council handles FOI requests has found. |
Councils criticised for transparency failures
30/09/2022 Three councils have been criticised for failing to respond to requests from the public for personal information. |
Transparency – more key than ever in the WhatsApp era
04/11/2021 Elizabeth Denham offers five recommendations to help Freedom of Information staff deal with requests at a time when the use of private correspondence channels is increasing. |
How local authorities can protect themselves from unethical heir hunters
29/04/2021 Philip Turvey outlines best practices for local authorities to follow when dealing with heir hunters. |
Council clerk convicted of breaking Freedom of Information Act
19/03/2020 A council employee has been fined for illegally deleting an audio file in the first conviction under the Freedom of Information Act. |
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Councils handling nearly half a million FOI requests every year
30/04/2019 Councils receive around 467,000 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests every year, nearly double the number compared to estimates in 2010, a new report has revealed. |
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Councils urged to give views on FOI laws
19/02/2019 Councils have been asked to respond to proposals for improving Freedom of Information laws. |
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The top ten things for local government to be aware of in 2019
11/01/2019 2019 looks set to be a year of interesting challenges and opportunities for local government. Tiffany Cloynes and Clare Hardy offer their predictions for the year ahead. |
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Council warned over FOI delays
21/07/2016 Trafford Council is being monitored by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) following concerns about how quickly it is responding to freedom of information (FOI) requests. |
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Call for LEPs to be subject local government transparency code
08/07/2016 Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) must be covered by the Freedom of Information Act to prevent billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money being hidden from public scrutiny, the News Media Association (NMA) has said. |
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Only 43 Syrian refugees have been resettled in London, charity reveals
26/04/2016 The capital has only taken 3% of all Syrian refugees given sanctuary in the UK since 2014, according to research by Citizens UK. |
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Practise what you preach: Instilling good governance within local government
04/02/2016 The growing number of local government meetings are a significant and seemingly unavoidable budget consideration in themselves. But, that's not to say they can't be run more cost-effectively with a more efficient meeting management process, argues Alister Esam. |
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FOI request reveals rise in council suspensions over social media breaches
26/01/2016 An investigation by the BBC has found there was a 19% rise in council workers being suspended last year for breaking social media rules. |
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Councils call for tighter controls on freedom of information requests
09/12/2015 Freedom of information requests are a ‘burden’ on local authorities, and their use should be subject to tighter controls according to council leaders. |
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Council to investigate after children at 'risk of radicalisation' are named
01/12/2015 Waltham Forest Council is conducting an investigation after the names of school pupils at risk of being radicalised were made public. |
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CCTV a 'great earner' for councils claims report
20/11/2015 The number of councils using CCTV to catch motorists committing traffic offences has risen by 76% since 2012, according to Confused.com. |
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Councils urged to test their disaster recovery plans
27/10/2015 Nearly 40% of city councils have not tested their disaster recovery plans in the past year, according to new research. |
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Rise in ‘exorcism and witchcraft’ child abuse cases
12/10/2015 The number of child abuse cases linked to witchcraft and exorcism accusations has increased, according to a new investigation. |
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Slow council hiring 'wasting' £437m a year claims research
06/10/2015 New research has found that the slow hiring practices of local councils wasted an estimated £437m last year. |
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FOI request reveals 2,600 empty council homes across Ireland
28/09/2015 Politicians in Ireland have demanded the country’s 2,600 empty local authority homes are put to use to tackle the ‘growing housing emergency’. |
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FOI request exposes upheaval experienced by foster children
21/09/2015 A freedom of information request has revealed that a quarter of foster children have to move home at least twice a year. |
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Councils refute 'wasting' millions on media monitoring
24/08/2015 Britain's biggest local authority has hit back at claims in a national newspaper that it has 'wasted' huge sums of money checking how it is reported in the media. |
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Council-run cremation costs climb by a third
19/08/2015 Council cremation prices have risen by a third since 2010, with average costs for adults now reaching £640. |
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Public bodies leaking private data once a fortnight warns website
16/07/2015 Public authorities have accidentally released personal information at least once a fortnight since 2009, according to analysis by mySociety. |
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FOI reveals 21% rise in unfinished roadworks per council
17/06/2015 A third of all car journeys are delayed by road works, with the number of unfinished council maintenance projects climbing by a fifth – research reveals. |
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Dog poo fines down almost 20%, figures reveal
11/06/2015 The number of dog owners fined for failing to pick up their pooch’s poo fell almost a fifth in the last year, research has revealed. |
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Councils spent 42,000 days ‘snooping’ on public
28/05/2015 An investigation has revealed councils spent 42,000 days on covert and direct surveillance operations, ‘snooping’ on pigeon feeders and motorists. |
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Councils spent £750,000 hiring celebrities investigation reveals
20/05/2015 Councils spent more than £750,000 last year on booking celebrities to appear at events, according to new figures. |
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Council spends £140k on ‘Berlin wall-style’ barrier around estate
01/04/2015 A south London council spent £140,000 constructing a ‘Berlin Wall-style’ spiked fence around a housing estate. |
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Councils urged to embed transparency in outsourcing contracts
23/03/2015 A report is calling on local authorities to consider transparency before signing outsourcing contracts, due to limitations of the freedom of information act. |
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Security warning as 55% of councils use unsupported software
13/03/2015 More than half of councils in England are still using unsupported versions of Java, leading to concerns of a future ‘security disaster’, according to new research. |
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Three councils warned over FOI delays
05/03/2015 Three councils are being monitored by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) following concerns they are too slow at responding to freedom of information (FOI) requests. |
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Bus services facing 'crisis' over council cuts
12/01/2015 Bus services are being lost at an ‘alarming rate’, with half of councils in England and Wales reducing funding this year, new research suggests. |
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Councils face up to £100m in road repairs backlog
06/01/2015 Councils are facing a huge backlog of road repairs, with some authorities needing up to £100m to complete work, according to new figures. |
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Data breaches costing local government millions, FOI reveals
05/12/2014 Data breaches have cost local government over £2.3m in fines since 2010, with council organisations named some of the worst for protecting confidential information. |
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Four councils warned to improve FOI practices
22/09/2014 Four councils are being monitored by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for being too slow to respond to freedom of information requests. |
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Revealed: The top ten bizarre questions posed to councils
18/08/2014 A demand to know what plans are in place to protect Wigan from dragon attacks has topped the list of the wackiest Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to councils. |
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Exorcism inquiry sent to council
06/06/2014 Councillors in Wigan have been forced to expose how many times cash swapped hands for exorcisms at the local authority. |
