Freedom of Information requests

[Joe K]

Have you made one? Were you charged a fee upfront, or expected to pay after receiving the info, even if it wasn't in the least bit satisfactory?

I'll be making a few to our local county council in the next few days, and putting the details up here. In the meantime, anyone can feel free to post their own, with urls, and we'll see how they progress...

www.whatdotheyknow.com/



For Gloucestershire County Council: Illegal parking at corner of Charles St, Gloucester
How many parking tickets have been issued to vehicles parked at the Corner of Charles St, at the bottom of the Asda car park? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel: Residents and police panel meetings
What documentation validates the refusal of Barton, Tredworth &
White City police to allow residents to attend its police panel
(now priority panel) meetings? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucestershire County Council: Motor accidents at corner of Charles St, Gloucester
How many accidents involving vehicles have occurred at the corner of Charles St, since DYLs were removed and transit vans parked there regularly, making it impossible for vehicles on Charles St to see bicycles coming, legally, the other way? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucester City Council: Community Emergency Planning in Barton & Tredworth
What efforts have been made to establish a community emergency planning structure in Barton & Tredworth? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucestershire Constabulary: Residents and police panel meetings
What documentation validates the refusal of Barton, Tredworth &
White City police to allow residents to attend its police panel
(now priority panel) meetings? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucestershire Constabulary: Right to view one's own custody room footage
Given the availability of pixelation to protect the identities of
third parties, is there any reason why custody room footage should be denied to a member of the public who was filmed inside such a room, if he or she requests it? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucestershire County Council: Traffic enforcement outside St. James' Junior School, Gloucester
Following the promise, three or four years ago, of a Traffic Regulation Order to make it illegal and therefore actionable by authorities for motorists to park outside the gates of St. James' Junior School, St. James' Street/Upton Street, and since a comprehensive TRO was carried out last year, are motorists now being ticketed for parking in that area during the times children arrive and leave? (Due date: 3rd September)

For Gloucester City Council: Neighbourhood partnership constitutional documents
Please provide me with the constitution documents for all still existing neighbourhood partnerships, to establish that they do all have such documents, and are operating legally (due date: 10th September).

For Gloucestershire County Council: Provision of safe online forums for Glo'shire youth
Given the shutdowns of previous council initiatives to offer a forum to children online to raise & address seemingly UNaddressable issues such as bullying (previous efforts: Gloucestershire Grapevine and Hear By Right) and the paring of the www.ukypglos.co.uk/ site to a single page, what provision, if any, has Gloucestershire County Council made for young people to engage in discussions online about the things that affect them, in a secure, harassment free environment? (due date: 10th September)

For Charity Commission: Barton & Tredworth Community Trust
Please provide details of communications with removed charity Barton & Tredworth Community Trust, to confirm that members were properly consulted about its winding down (due date: 13th September).

For Gloucester City Council: Traffic enforcement outside St. James' Junior School, Gloucester
Following the promise, three or four years ago, of a Traffic Regulation Order to make it illegal and therefore actionable by authorities for motorists to park outside the gates of St. James' Junior School, St. James' Street/Upton Street, and since a comprehensive TRO was carried out last year, are motorists now being ticketed for parking in that area during the times children arrive and leave? (due date: 18th September)

(Note: above request seemingly missent to the Glo'shire County Council originally)

Edited to add new requests, hyperlinked.

[Deleted]

I've made a number of FoI requests (about eight). Most of them came back with the information that I'd asked for. I have never been charged, even for a gigantic request that I made to the county council in relation to the rail crossing.

I know that they are allowed to charge if there is more than a certain amount of work involved in answering your question, but I don't know when the charges were introduced.

I did once have to complain about the response that I received from the police, because it in no way answered the question that I had asked - it seemed to be answering a totally different question.

They are allowed to have extra time if the request is a particularly difficult one, and I recall that one of my requests did go over the allotted time by a few days.

What was the FoI request that you had to pay for?

[Joe K]

Gloucestershire NHS told me I would have to pay £5 to obtain the records for my examination at Accident & Emergency, following my arrest and assault by Barton police, since Gloucestershire Constabulary were unwilling to make their own enquiries as part of their investigation.

It was a crucial part of the puzzle, as you'll recall I had audio evidence of complaining that cuffs had been placed on me far too tightly, and promises that they would be loosened in a 'few minutes', then waiting at least another twenty minutes for anything to be done. The information that came back made absolutely no mention of injuries to wrists, so I was far from happy to pay for it. I am going to make a complaint, because I suspect most people's records are just as useless, if they were only inspected. Who will do so, if they are being charged, though?

In hindsight, I wondered what would have happened if I'd asked them for information concerning injuries to my wrists suffered on that night? Either they'd have to check they had the info before exacting a promise to pay the money, incurring cost anyway, or they'd exact the promise first only to find out that they had nothing for me to pay for.

It's all in the phrasing.

Did you use the whatdotheyknow page for your requests, or just send a letter/email, citing the FoI Act?

[Joe K]

Oddly enough, I seem to have fallen at the first hurdle. The page asks to 'First, type in the name of the UK public authority you'd like information from. By law, they have to respond'. When I tyope 'Gloucester County Council' and press enter, it just gives me (lots of) search results. No way to progress the request...

I want to ask them how many surveys have been carried out about parking restrictions on Widden St, because I was promised one over a year ago now, and the person in charge of it, Chris Townley, is ignoring my emails asking for updates, while the council acknowledged my complaint about this behaviour months ago, and has done nothing since.

I've now sent another email, including the FoI request, for whatever that's worth...

[Deleted]

Firstly, you have confused the Freedom of Information Act with the Data Protection Act. Your medical records are obtainable only by you under the Data Protection Act, and I presume that there is a standard fee for this.

Secondly, there is no such organisation as "Gloucester County Council". The Highways Authority is Gloucestershire County Council. Surprisingly though, gating orders are dealt with by Gloucester City Council, despite being a closure of a public highway.

I've made every FoI request via email.

[Joe K]

You're absolutely right in the first instance, Kay, and that's a confusion I keep making, and need to train myself out of, it it isn't too late with my deteriorating noggin.

In the second instance, partially right. It was a typical slip of the fingers for me to type 'Gloucester' instead of 'Gloucestershire', but I did it right with the form (and just checked again), without any result.

The county council have my email, via Chris Townley, anyway. I'll visit them this week to confirm it.

[Deleted]

I've just looked at the whatdotheyknow site, and I found the correct page straight away:

www.whatdotheyknow.com/new/gloucestershire_county_council

In fact, I'm going to use the site to ask a question of the county council myself.

[Deleted]

I think that I have now sent a request to the county council using the whatdotheyknow website. It was about Organ's Alley. I asked why the city council is the 'highway authority' responsible for gating orders, while the county council is the real Highway Authority for everything else. I also asked if the county would continue to pay for the running and maintenance of street lights in the alley after it is gated off.

[Joe K]

Your request worked, Kay, and I'm following it as well now. Personally, I'd ask questions that gave a distinct answer, such as 'How many parking tickets have been issued to vehicles parked at the Corner of Charles St, at the bottom of the Asda car park?' Then I'd can their arses if the answer was none.

Your link works fine, and I wonder how you got it. Mind you, I tried my page again, but this time typed 'Gloucestershire County Council' into the box on the righthand side. I got the same kind of results, but an extra line saying 'Make your own request'. One click on from that, and I was on your page.

So I sent the question above, and another:

How many accidents involving vehicles have occurred at the corner of Charles St, since DYLs were removed and transit vans parked there regularly, making it impossible for vehicles on Charles St to see bicycles coming, legally, the other way?

Edited for typos.

[Joe K]

And another one, to the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel:

What documentation validates the refusal of Barton, Tredworth & White City police to allow residents to attend its police panel (now priority panel) meetings?

[Deleted]

I've now made two more requests - one to the police and one to the city council - asking the same question about CCTV. I'm not sure who is responsible for the CCTV in Gloucester, so this is a belt and braces approach.

I didn't know about the existence of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel. Yours is the only request!

[Joe K]

I only noticed it in passing. I guess the 'everything and GCC turns up in a search' cloud has a silver lining...

[Joe K]

Gloucester City Council:

Are details (minutes) of priority (police) panel/ Street Rep meetings in Barton & Tredworth accessible to residents, subject to any confidential material being removed/redacted?

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/public_access_to_priority_panels/new

[Deleted]

Surely the city council will simply say that it's nothing to do with them. You should ask exactly the same question of the police panel, I think.

[Joe K]

The police panel have demonstrated that they're like any quango, if a small one. Unaccountable to the public.

The council and the police, though, are required to be accountable, by mechanisms such as the FoIA. I'm not saying I'm confident of a response, but 'nothing to do with us' will be countered with, 'But the panel you fund refuse to provide the info, even the non-confidential bits'...