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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3,121 disclosures

  1. Removal of Flags Herefordshire

    Freedom of Information request – removal of flags from council-controlled public spaces and assets

    Please provide the recorded information below concerning flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.

    For the avoidance of doubt, this request is not limited to highways, highway assets or lampposts. “Public spaces and assets” means any publicly accessible land, building, structure, asset or street/public-realm furniture owned, occupied, managed, maintained or controlled by the council, or from which the council commissioned, instructed or paid for the removal of a flag. This includes, without limitation, parks, gardens, open spaces, town centres, civic buildings, council offices, libraries, leisure facilities, car parks, beaches or seafronts, flagpoles, lampposts, railings and other street furniture.

    Please search all relevant council services, including parks/open spaces, estates/property, public realm, facilities, events, environmental services, procurement and finance, as applicable, and consider information held by a contractor or other person on the council's behalf.

    If another authority is responsible for highways or highway lampposts, please answer for every other council-controlled space, asset, function and record. If a specific part is held by another authority, identify that authority and the precise part concerned while responding to the remainder.

    Where event-level information is unavailable, please provide an annual breakdown. If costs formed part of a wider contract and cannot be separately identified, please provide the contractor, relevant contract and total recorded contract value while stating that flag-removal costs are not separately recorded.

    If no flags were removed during a year, please record zero. If information is not held or costs are not separately recorded, please state that clearly. If only part is held, please provide that part and identify what is not held.

    I am requesting recorded information only. Please provide CSV or XLSX where possible.

    For each of the following financial years:

    • 2022/23

    • 2023/24

    • 2024/25

    • 2025/26

    Please provide:

    1. The number of flags removed by, for, or on the instructions of the council.

    2. The council's recorded expenditure on removing them, including payments to contractors and any separately recorded internal costs.

    3. If recorded, a breakdown by flag type, for example the Union Flag, Saltire, St George's Cross or another type.

    4. Whether the work was undertaken by council employees, a council-owned company or an external contractor.

    5. The name of any external contractor, supplier or council-owned company used.

    6. The council department or team responsible where work was completed internally. I am not requesting individual employees' names.

    7. Any associated contract, purchase-order or invoice reference, if recorded.

    8. The amount paid to each contractor or supplier.

    Published: 10 August 2026

  2. Adult safeguarding referrals in 2025

    I would be grateful if you would provide answers to the following questions under the Freedom of Information Act.

    In 2025, how many adult safeguarding concerns did you receive where the subject was considered to be experiencing or at risk of experiencing sexual exploitation?

    Of those referrals, how many resulted in (1) a Section 42 enquiry, and (2) other safeguarding enquiries?

    Is there a multi-agency forum in this local authority area which discusses individual cases of children who have been subject to sexual exploitation (e.g. Slavery Exploitation Risk Assessment Conference)?

    If yes:

    Please provide the name(s) of the group(s)

    Does it focus specifically on sexual exploitation or on exploitation or other forms of harm more broadly?

    What happens when a child subject to multi-agency case management in relation to sexual exploitation turns 18?

    Is there a multi-agency forum in this local authority area which discusses individual cases of adults who have been subject to sexual exploitation (e.g. Slavery Exploitation Risk Assessment Conference)?

    Where safeguarding criteria are met, concerns may be managed through a Section 42 enquiry and associated multi-agency safeguarding processes, supported by the Adult Exploitation Pathway and Toolkit.

    If yes:

    Please provide the name(s) of the group(s)

    Does it focus specifically on sexual exploitation or on exploitation or other forms of harm more broadly?

    Which agencies are involved?

    What housing pathways are available for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness due to fleeing sexual exploitation?3

    Do you commission a service to support women who have experienced sexual exploitation and/or who are involved in the sex industry?

    If yes:

    How much funding is provided?

    Is this funded via a particular funding stream?

    Is the funding specifically for support for those who have experienced sexual exploitation and/or who are involved in the sex industry, or is this part of a wider service (e.g. a sexual assault service that also supports those who have experienced sexual exploitation)?

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    Explanatory note 1: Multi-agency forum could refer to a panel, hub, co-located teams etc. that brings together partner agencies to share information and coordinate responses to children or adults at risk. The equivalent in domestic abuse would be MARAC. We are interested in panels, hubs etc. that discuss a wider range of cases than just sexual exploitation, provided it would be a suitable forum for sexual exploitation to be discussed.

    Explanatory note 2: Examples of measures might include, but are not limited to, keeping young adults on the caseload up to a certain age; referring cases to an adult panel; referring to specialist adult services.

    Explanatory note 3: This could be a formalised housing pathway, similar to what is often used in domestic abuse cases, or commissioning of specialist services for people experiencing homelessness as a result of sexual exploitation.

    Alternatively, people may only be able to access the mainstream housing pathway.

    Please advise if this request is likely to take longer than 18 hours in which case we can adapt the questions accordingly.

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    Published: 10 August 2026

  3. Parking Infrastructure and Electric Vehicle Provision (2016–2026)

    Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, I am writing to request information regarding the council's managed parking spaces over the last 10 calendar/financial years (from 2016 to the current year, 2026).

    Specifically, for each year between 2016 and 2026 inclusive, please provide the following data broken down by year:

    - Entirely Free On-Street Parking: The total number of designated on-street parking spaces within the local authority area that are entirely free of charge at all times.

    - Partially Free On-Street Parking: The total number of on-street parking spaces that are free during certain hours/days (e.g., free overnight, during early mornings, evenings, or weekends) but metered or restricted (for example to resident permit-holders) at other times.

    - Free Off-Street Parking: The total number of parking spaces within council-operated off-street car parks that are entirely free of charge.

    - Electric Vehicle (EV) Parking: The total number of parking spaces (both on-street and off-street) that are exclusively reserved for electric vehicle charging or parking.

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    If data for the full calendar year of 2026 is not yet complete, please provide the most up-to-date figures available at the time of this request, or state the specific date range the 2026 data covers. If the council records this data by financial year rather than calendar year, please provide the figures on that basis instead.

    If the section 12 cost limit is exceeded for any part of this request, please prioritise the most recent data (starting with 2026 and working backward) or advise me on how I might refine my request to fit within the limit.

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    Published: 10 August 2026

  4. Traffic warden assault 24/25 + 25/26 - Unitary(2)

    1. Please state how many physical assaults were recorded by you on people employed by the council as traffic wardens – otherwise known as Civil Enforcement Officers – in (a) 2024/25 and (b) 2025/26

    2. Please give a brief description of the circumstances of each recorded incident. age.

    Published: 10 August 2026

  5. Current SEND Provision and Commissioning Routes for Academic Year 2025/26

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to the number and type of current Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision, and the commissioning route used to access it, within [Name of Local Authority]. This request is made in a personal/business research capacity and is not a Subject Access Request under the UK GDPR. Please treat this as a request under the Act and respond within the statutory 20 working day period.

    This request has been deliberately scoped to a single, narrow subject area so that it can reasonably be answered within the appropriate cost limit prescribed under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (18 hours / £450 for a local authority). It is my genuine belief that a response can be provided within this limit. If you consider that complying with this request would nonetheless exceed that limit, I would be grateful if, in line with your duty to provide advice and assistance under section 16 of the Act, you could contact me to discuss how the request might be narrowed further, rather than refusing it in full.

    Specifically, I would be grateful if you could provide:

    1. The number and names of independent or non maintained special schools (day) currently operating within the local authority area, together with their designated need type(s) and current registered capacity and the average costs per pupil per annum covering academic year 2025/26. This should be provided as current spend over the year - it does not need to be qualified spend at year end budget point given that I am requesting average costs.

    2. The number and names of independent or non maintained residential special schools currently commissioned by the local authority for its resident children and young people, whether located within or outside the local authority area and the average costs per pupil per annum covering academic year 2025/26. This should be provided as current spend over the year - it does not need to be qualified spend at year end budget point given that I am requesting average costs.

    3. Details of any Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), approved provider framework, or equivalent commissioning route used by the local authority for special school, residential, including how a new provider may apply to join. A link or document can be provided.

    4. The name and contact details of the team or individual responsible for SEND sufficiency planning and/or commissioning of specialist placements, to whom a provider may address an expression of interest.

    5. A copy of, or direct link to, the local authority's current SEND Sufficiency Plan, Strategy, or equivalent document, including any published gap analysis by need type (e.g. ASD, SEMH, SLCN) and by geographic area within the local authority.

    6. Details of any current or planned capital programme, free school proposal, expansion, or new-build project intended to increase special day or special residential school capacity within the local authority area, including expected additional place numbers, need type(s) to be served, and expected opening date.

    7. Any published assessment of the local authority's current High Needs Block (Dedicated Schools Grant) position, including whether the authority is subject to a Safety Valve Agreement, Deficit Recovery Plan, or equivalent, and the value of any agreed deficit reduction target.

    8. A copy of the send reforms plan as submitted to the DFE in June. This should be the submitted document and appendices.

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    If any part of this request is unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me to discuss before treating it as refused.

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    Published: 10 August 2026

  6. Digital Systems Processing Children's Data

    I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Where a question concerns a data protection document, I also ask that you treat it as a request to confirm the existence and status of that document. If any part is refused, please cite the specific exemption and provide the public-interest reasoning.

    A. Systems and Suppliers

    1) Please list every third-party digital system the authority uses to process the personal data of looked-after children and/or children with Education, Health and Care Plans (for example ePEP Online, EHCP Online, or equivalent), naming the supplier and the start date of each contract, including any predecessor contracts before the current one.

    2) Please state the procurement route used for each system (for example the Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud framework), and describe the due diligence carried out on the supplier's security claims at procurement.

    3) For each supplier, please provide the security accreditations the authority relied upon (for example UKAS-accredited ISO/IEC 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit), and describe how those accreditations were verified.

    4) Please provide the total sums paid to each supplier in each financial year since the first contract.

    B. Data Protection Governance

    1) For each system, please provide the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and the date it was completed and last reviewed. If no DPIA exists, please confirm this.

    2) Please state the lawful basis under Article 6 UK GDPR, and the condition under Article 9 for processing special-category data, relied upon for each system.

    3) Please provide the privacy / fair-processing information (Articles 13–14) given to children, parents and carers that names these systems and suppliers, and state when it was last updated.

    4) Please confirm whether any independent penetration testing or security audit of each system has been carried out, and provide the dates.

    5) Please provide records of any personal-data breach, complaint or safeguarding concern relating to each system.

    6) Please state whether any child-facing communication feature within a system (for example a chat or messaging module) exists, and if so whether and how it is monitored.

    C. AI and Automated Processing

    1) Please list any artificial intelligence, machine learning or large language model tools used in children's services, adult social care, or in the processing of residents' data, naming the tool and supplier.

    2) For each such tool, please provide the DPIA and state whether an Article 22 (automated decision-making) assessment was carried out, and what human-review safeguards apply.

    3) Please state whether any personal data is transferred to, or accessible by, the supplier of any AI tool, and whether any data is transferred outside the UK.

    D. Reorganisation, Integration and Accountability

    1) Please confirm whether any children's services data systems are being merged or integrated as part of local government reorganisation, devolution, or any 'single view of the child' / data-sharing programme, and whether a DPIA and a Best Value assessment have been completed for that integration.

    2) Please state which body the authority considers responsible for assuring the security and compliance of third-party systems processing children's data.

    3) Please provide any data-sharing agreement between the authority and an Integrated Care Board (ICB) or other partner concerning children's data.

    Published: 10 August 2026

  7. Business Rates Credit Balances

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 concerning credit balances held on non-domestic rating accounts. Please provide your most recent available report of business-rates accounts that currently have a credit balance. For each account, please provide the following information where held:

    1. Billing Authority property reference number;

    2. VOA assessment reference number;

    3. Property address;

    4. Property postcode;

    5. Ratepayer name, limited to incorporated companies, limited liability partnerships, public authorities, registered charities and other legal persons;

    6. The amount of the credit balance;

    7. The financial year or years to which the credit relates;

    8. The date the credit first arose;

    9. The reason for the credit, using any category or description already held within your system;

    10. Whether the account remains active or has been closed;

    11. Whether a refund has been requested;

    12. Whether a refund has been authorised;

    13. Whether the authority has attempted to contact the ratepayer;

    14. Whether the balance has been written on, written off, transferred or otherwise adjusted;

    15. The date of the most recent refund or credit-balance review.

    I do not request: - bank account details; - payment-card details; - authentication information; - security questions or answers; - personal telephone numbers; - personal email addresses; - copies of refund forms; - signatures; or - any other information that could be used to impersonate a ratepayer.

    Where you consider disclosure of the exact credit amount to engage section 31, please provide the remaining fields and replace the exact amount with one of the following bands:

    - £0.01 to £99.99; - £100 to £499.99; - £500 to £999.99; - £1,000 to £4,999.99; - £5,000 to £9,999.99; - £10,000 to £49,999.99; - £50,000 and above.

    If you consider that property-level disclosure would still engage section 31, please provide aggregated information showing:

    1. the total number of accounts in credit;

    2. the total value of all credits;

    3. the number and value within each of the above bands;

    4. the number and value relating to active accounts;

    5. the number and value relating to closed accounts;

    6. the number and value outstanding for: - less than three months; - three to twelve months; - one to three years; - three to six years; - more than six years;

    7. the number and value of credits refunded during each of the previous three financial years;

    8. the number and value of credits written on, written off or transferred during each of the previous three financial years.

    Please provide the information in CSV or Microsoft Excel format.

    Published: 7 August 2026

  8. Concerns related to AFS Herefordshire

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and, where applicable, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

    Please provide any information held by Herefordshire Council relating to the pet crematory operated by Animal Funeral Services in Litfield House, Kington HR5 3HX Herefordshire, including for the previous five years:

    * Records of inspections carried out by the council.

    * Any environmental health reports or inspection findings.

    * Records of complaints received relating to the premises, including complaints concerning smoke, odour, emissions, noise, waste disposal, or the operation of the crematory (with any personal information redacted).

    * Copies of any warning letters, improvement notices, enforcement notices, or other regulatory action taken by the council.

    * Details of any environmental permits, consents, licences, or approvals held by the business, where held by the council.

    * Correspondence between the council and the operator relating to compliance with environmental or public health requirements.

    * Copies of any reports or assessments relating to pollution, nuisance, emissions, or public health associated with the premises.

    Where any information is exempt from disclosure, please provide the remaining information with appropriate redactions and explain the exemption relied upon.

    If any of the requested information is held by another public authority, I would be grateful if you could advise me accordingly or transfer the request where appropriate.

    I would prefer to receive the information electronically by email.

    Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your response within the statutory time limit.

    Published: 7 August 2026

  9. Animal Funeral Services, Kington

    I would be grateful if you could explain the role of the council in regulating and inspecting this facility. In particular, I would appreciate answers to the following questions:

    * What inspections or oversight should have been undertaken at this premises?

    * How frequently should such inspections have taken place?

    * When was the last inspection carried out before the current investigation began?

    * Were any concerns, breaches, complaints or enforcement actions identified before this investigation?

    * What steps is the council now taking to establish what happened and to support affected pet owners?

    * Will owners whose pets were entrusted to this facility receive any information about whether their individual pets may have been affected?

    Published: 7 August 2026

  10. Visits to schools from SPUC

    Please provide the following information for the period 1 August 2017 to the date this request is processed.

    1) This request relates to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), SPUC Scotland, SPUC Youth, the Tiny Feet programme, and any other educational activity delivered by or on behalf of SPUC, including but not limited to activities recorded under alternative names, programmes or SPUC-affiliated education initiatives. For each visit, presentation, workshop, assembly, club, lesson or other event delivered in schools for which your authority/trust holds records, please provide:

    • The name of the organisation.

    • The name of the school.

    • The date of the event.

    • The title of the event, session or presentation (where recorded).

    • A description of the event and its content, aims or learning objectives (where recorded).

    • If no events took place, Confirmation of whether the school / a teacher requested and received educational materials from SPUC during this time - and what these materials consisted of.

    Please also provide copies of any presentations, PowerPoint slides, handouts, worksheets, lesson plans, teaching resources or other materials used or supplied in connection with the above.

    2) In addition, for any school where a SPUC-related event took place during the period covered by this request, please provide details of any other external organisations invited to speak to pupils on topics including abortion, pregnancy, foetal development, embryology, reproductive rights, euthanasia, assisted dying, or related ethical, moral or medical issues between 1 August 2017 and the date this request is processed. For each such event, please provide: • The name of the organisation.

    • The name of the school.

    • The date of the event.

    • The title of the event, session or presentation (where recorded).

    • A description of the event and its content, aims or learning objectives (where recorded).

    If retrieving copies of presentations, slides, handouts or other teaching materials would exceed the appropriate cost limit or otherwise substantially increase the burden of complying with this request, I would be content to receive the information requested above without those materials.

    Also, if adding part 2) to the request would exceed cost limit, I would be happy to limit my request to part 1) If the information is held electronically, I would prefer to receive it in electronic form. If any part of this request is considered likely to exceed the appropriate cost limit, please advise how the request may be refined and provide any information that can be supplied within the limit.

    Published: 7 August 2026