Freedom of information (FOI) releases from Herefordshire Council

This is a disclosure log of Herefordshire Council's responses to freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) requests that might be of wider public interest.

If you can't find the information you're looking for, you can make a new FOI request.

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3,264 disclosures

  1. Educational psychologists

    I would like to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

    1. Since January 2026, the total number of job adverts your council has issued for education psychologists. Please can this be broken down by type of EP, such as assistant, trainee, fully qualified etc.

    2. For each advert issued since January 2026, how many applications the council received for each advert.

    3. For each advert, if possible to ascertain, how many of the applications were deemed suitable to progress.

    4. What incentives have been offered by your council in these job adverts? For example, relocation packages, extra bonuses etc. Please can this information be provided in an excel spreadsheet.

    Published: 15 October 2026

  2. Streetlighting/Street Furniture Data and Drainage Gully Asset Information

    We are seeking access to Streetlighting / Street Furniture data and drainage gully asset information within your area.

    Information Requested We would be grateful if you could provide any available datasets containing:

    • Street Furniture / Streetlighting asset information.

    • Drainage gully location information and associated asset details. Our preferred formats are:

    • A CSV dataset containing asset coordinates (eastings and northings) and asset type information;

    • An ESRI Shapefile, GeoPackage, or equivalent GIS dataset; or

    • A MapInfo dataset.

    Clarification: 'For street furniture we mostly require illuminated/powered street furniture such as streetlights, but if you also have information regarding signs, bollards, drainage that would be most helpful.'

    Published: 15 October 2026

  3. Council property ownership, tenure and availability for sale or letting

    I would like information about properties in which Herefordshire Council holds an ownership, leasehold or other financial interest, as at the date this request is received. Please include residential, commercial, operational and investment properties, together with land holdings, whether situated within or outside Herefordshire. For this request, “significant stakeholder” means that the council holds a joint ownership, beneficial or equity interest in a property, either directly or through a council-owned or partly council-owned company or joint venture. Please exclude properties where the council’s involvement is solely as planning authority, regulator or grant provider.

    1. Property totals

    Please provide the total number of properties within each of the following cohorts:

    * Properties wholly owned directly by the council.

    * Properties jointly owned, or in which the council holds another direct beneficial or equity interest.

    * Properties held indirectly through council-owned or partly council-owned companies or joint ventures.

    * Properties leased by the council from another owner.

    For each cohort, please provide a breakdown by property type and state how many are held freehold, leasehold or under another form of tenure.

    Please distinguish the council’s own tenure from any lease or tenancy it has granted to an occupier. Where cohorts overlap, please identify this and provide an overall total without double counting. Please also explain whether your records count individual units, buildings, sites or asset-register entries.

    2. Property-level information Please provide an existing asset-register extract, or equivalent schedule, showing for each property, where recorded:

    * Property name, address or location and asset reference.

    * Property type and the relevant cohort above.

    * Whether the interest is freehold, leasehold or another form of tenure.

    * The nature and percentage of the council’s ownership or financial interest.

    * The name of any company or joint venture through which the interest is held.

    3. Properties currently marketed for sale or letting

    For each cohort, please state how many properties are currently on the market for sale and how many are currently available for rent or lease. Please identify those properties and provide, where held:

    * Property name and address or location.

    * Whether the whole property or only part is available.

    * Whether it is offered for sale, rent or lease.

    * The interest being offered, such as freehold sale or leasehold letting.

    * The advertised asking price or rent.

    * The marketing agent and a link to any public listing.

    Published: 15 October 2026

  4. Gagging orders costs 2026 to date

    1. So far in 2026 how much money has the council SPENT on gagging offers, so cash payments to person, staff, ex staff or others to stop them from speaking publicly about issues at Hereford social services? How much has been paid out?

    2. So far in 2026 how much money has the council OFFERED for gagging offers, so cash payments to persons, staff, ex staff or others to stop them from speaking publicly about issues at Hereford social services? How much has been offered?

    3. So far in 2026 how many offers to gag have been made to persons, staff, ex staff or others, so offers of cash payments to stop them from speaking publicly about issues at Hereford social services?

    4. So far in 2026 how many times has the council gone to court to seek gagging orders, so orders to stop persons, staff, ex staff or others from speaking publicly about issues at Hereford social services?

    5. Are councillors on the social services scrutiny committees informed of offers to gag or gagging payments to staff, ex staff or others? a. Is this verbally or in writing? b. Are councillors told of the reason to gag?

    6. Does the council keep a formal register of gagging orders, gagging offers or money paid to gag persons, staff, ex staff or others? a. If not why not?

    Published: 15 October 2026

  5. AI note-taking and transcription tools

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please could you provide the following information about AI note-taking, transcription or 'AI scribe' tools used by your social care services (for example Magic Notes by Beam, or similar products) at Herefordshire Council. This relates to the notice 'AI Social Care Recording Tool', published 9 January 2026, awarded to Beam Up Ltd.

    1. Whether the contract can be extended beyond 22 December 2026, by how long, the cost of any extension, and whether any extension has been agreed.

    2. The annual cost of the service and the total spent to date (the published value may cover more than one year).

    3. The number of licences or users currently covered, and the teams using it.

    4. The procurement route used (for example G-Cloud or another framework, a direct award, or a competitive tender), and whether a re-procurement timetable has been set.

    Published: 15 October 2026

  6. Council Customer Service Enquiries

    For the purpose of this request, please define an “enquiry” as any inbound request for information, support, or service received and managed through the council’s central Customer Services, Customer Contact Centre, Contact Centre, webchat service, online customer contact channels, or equivalent first point of contact function. This request does not extend to enquiries sent directly to individual departments, service areas, officers, or councillors where these interactions are not centrally recorded. Please provide the following information for the most recent 12-month period for which complete data is available, and specify the exact dates covered.

    Q1. Total enquiries. Please provide the total number of enquiries received by the council’s Customer Services/Contact Centre function during the reporting period.

    Q2. Channel breakdown. Where recorded, please provide the total number of enquiries received through each of the following channels:

    * Telephone

    * Email

    * Online form or customer portal

    * Webchat

    * Virtual assistant or chatbot

    * Social media

    * SMS, WhatsApp, or another messaging service

    * Other (please specify)

    If the council records some of these channels together, please provide the information using the categories held.

    Q3. Telephone performance. If held, please provide:

    * Average speed to answer telephone calls

    * Total number of abandoned calls

    * Average call-handling time

    Q4. Service hours. Please provide the standard operating hours of the central Customer Services/Contact Centre function, including whether staffed customer service support is routinely available during evenings or weekends.

    Q5. Complaints. If held, please provide the total number of complaints specifically relating to performance, responsiveness, or accessibility of the central Customer Services/Contact Centre function.

    Q6. Customer satisfaction. If held, please provide the average customer satisfaction score (CSAT) or equivalent customer service satisfaction measure for the reporting period.

    Q7. First contact resolution. If first contact resolution is measured, please provide:

    * The first contact resolution rate

    * The number of enquiries resolved at the first point of contact, if recorded Please also provide the council’s definition of first contact resolution.

    Q8. Use of artificial intelligence. Does the council currently use any AI-powered technology within its central Customer Services/Contact Centre function? If yes, please briefly describe the technology and its purpose. This could include, but is not limited to, chatbots or virtual assistants, automated email handling, call summarisation, knowledge tools, or technology that assists customer service staff.

    Q9. Customer service workforce. Please provide the average number of full-time equivalent staff working within the central Customer Services/Contact Centre function during the reporting period. If an average is not held, please provide the number recorded at the nearest available data and specify that date.

    Q10. Most common reasons for contact. If enquiries are categorised by reason for contact, please provide:

    * The five most common recorded enquiry categories during the reporting period

    * The number of enquiries recorded in each category, if held If any requested information is not held, please state this.

    Where possible, please provide any closely related information that is readily available.

    Published: 14 October 2026

  7. Refuse collection vehicle access

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could you please provide the following information from the last 12 months:

    1. A list of roads or streets where standard refuse or recycling collection vehicles are currently unable, or instructed not, to travel for routine household collections.

    1a. If time and cost limits allow, please also provide the same information for commercial waste collections carried out by the council or on its behalf.

    2. Where recorded, the reason for each restriction, such as narrow roads, unsafe reversing, weight restrictions or lack of turning space.

    3. Where recorded, how collections are instead carried out, such as using a smaller vehicle, crews collecting on foot, or residents using an agreed collection point.

    4. Where recorded, the date on which the current access restriction or alternative collection arrangement began.

    For clarity, I am only interested in ongoing or regular access restrictions, rather than one-off issues caused by roadworks, weather or temporary obstructions.

    Please provide the information in spreadsheet format where possible. If some information is not held, please provide the available information and clearly state what is not held.

    If the request would exceed the appropriate cost limit, please provide advice and assistance under Section 16 of the Act as to how it could be refined.

    Published: 14 October 2026

  8. Conservation Area Planning Controls and Measurement Standards

    1. CONSERVATION AREA POLICY COMPLIANCE: The council's formal policy document, threshold guidance, or operational framework regarding "material deviations" from approved red-line boundary footprints for residential developments within designated Conservation Areas. What spatial or linear measurement tolerance (if any) triggers an immediate Stop Notice or Enforcement Notice for an unauthorized structural footprint displacement?

    2. CADSTRE / BOUNDARY MEASUREMENT ACCURACY STANDARDS: The formal equipment and data verification standards required for Planning Enforcement officers when taking site measurements. Does council policy mandate the use of high-precision geodetic or GPS total station equipment when validating layout clearances near disputed titles, or are general hand-held tape measures considered legally compliant for final enforcement site assessments?

    3. INTER-DEPARTMENTAL NOTIFICATION PROTOCOLS: The internal policy or protocol governing communication between Planning Enforcement and Building Control when a structural footprint deviation is discovered. Specifically, what is the protocol when an unauthorized layout displacement directly affects adjacent domestic structures under the 3- metre and 6-metre rules defined by Section 6 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996?

    4. FOUNDATION INSPECTION ENFORCEMENT POLICIES: The council's standard enforcement criteria and statutory steps taken when a developer constructs structural walls and a roof shell over foundation trenches that bypassed mandatory local authority inspections and structural sign-offs.

    Published: 14 October 2026

  9. Laboratory animal transport enforcement, Sequani Ledbury

    I am making a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concerning local-authority enforcement of animal welfare-in-transport legislation in relation to laboratory animals transported to or from:

    Sequani Limited

    Bromyard Road

    Ledbury

    Herefordshire

    HR8 1LH

    APHA has confirmed to me that the primary responsibility for enforcement of welfare-in-transport legislation rests with local authorities, including routine welfare checks on animals and their means of transport.

    For the period 1 January 2024 to the present, please provide:

    1. The number of welfare-in-transport inspections, vehicle inspections, roadside checks, arrival/departure checks or other compliance checks carried out in connection with animals transported to or from Sequani.

    2. Copies of inspection reports, compliance records, officer notes, warning/advisory letters and enforcement records arising from those checks.

    3. Records of complaints, referrals or intelligence received concerning transport of dogs or other laboratory animals to or from Sequani, with personal details of complainants redacted.

    4. Records identifying any commercial transporter inspected, checked or investigated in connection with those movements, including records containing the name “Impex” where held.

    5. Records showing whether transport documentation was examined, including documentation recording origin/ownership, place and time of departure, intended destination and expected journey duration.

    6. Records concerning vehicle hygiene, cleaning, disinfection or biosecurity where vehicles were used for laboratory animals.

    7. Any records concerning use of the same vehicle for different species, including dogs and non-human primates.

    8. Substantive correspondence between Herefordshire Council and APHA, the Home Office, Sequani or a transporter concerning welfare-in-transport compliance involving the Ledbury establishment.

    9. Records of any enforcement action, improvement requirement, caution, prosecution, referral or formal advice issued in connection with animal transport to or from the site.

    10. If no inspection or enforcement activity has taken place in relation to laboratory-animal transport at this site during the requested period, please confirm that explicitly.

    I am not requesting information that would identify planned future animal movements, routes or other security-sensitive operational details.

    Published: 14 October 2026

  10. Higher risk buildings - Herefordshire

    1. How many 18m Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) as defined by the Building Safety Act 2022 does the authority own or manage?

    How many HRBs have been identified as requiring remediation of: · Unsafe cladding;

    and/or · significant external wall system fire safety defects;

    and/or · EPC ratings below C and require EWI upgrading, and how will this be procured

    2. How many 11- 18m buildings as defined by the Building Safety Act 2022 does the authority own or manage?

    How many 11-18m buildings have been identified as requiring remediation of:

    · Unsafe cladding;

    and/or · significant external wall system fire safety defects;

    and/or · EPC ratings below C and require EWI upgrading, and how will this be procured

    3. How many low-rise buildings as defined by the Building Safety Act 2022 does the authority own or manage?

    How many low-rise buildings have been identified as requiring remediation of:

    · Unsafe cladding;

    and/or · significant external wall system fire safety defects;

    and/or · EPC ratings below C and require EWI upgrading, and how will this be procured

    Published: 14 October 2026