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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3,270 disclosures

  1. primate licensing

    Please can you tell me how many applications for a primate keeper's licence - as per the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations - have been approved by the council as of today (6 October 2026).

    Published: 16 October 2026

  2. Weekly Cost Children Accommodated to Independent Children Home Providers

    Please can you detail the weekly cost you currently pay for children accommodated to independent children home providers for the following:

    * Children's Home - (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * Children's Home - standard 3 bed Accommodation (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * Children's Home with therapy (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * Children's Home with education (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * Children's Home with Therapy and Education (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * Children's Home Emergency Accommodation (maximum and minimum weekly cost).

    * How many residential children home (new) placements did you make in 2022-2023?

    * How many of these were placed within your LA?

    * How many within 20 miles from your boundary?

    * How many further than 20 miles from your boundary?

    * How many of the residential children's home placements were made through a framework?

    * How many were spot purchase?

    Published: 16 October 2026

  3. Timeliness of Adult Social Care Fee Uplifts

    Please find the following request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the timing of deciding and communicating social care fee uplifts to social care providers.

    Q1) Please complete the following table with the dates (DD/MM/YY) that finalised social care fee uplifts were decided by the local authority or officer for the following financial years and service types. If your local authority provides bespoke uplifts only through costing exercises, please provide the dates on which the first uplift was agreed, along with the dates on which the fifth-from-last package was agreed.

     

    Financial year

    65+ Residential/Nursing

    Working age Residential/Nursing

    Supported Living

    Care at Home

    2026/27

     

     

     

     

    2025/26

     

     

     

     

    2024/25

     

     

     

     

    2023/24

     

     

     

     

     

    Q2) Please complete the following table with the dates (DD/MM/YY) that finalised social care fee uplifts were communicated to care providers by the local authority or officer for the following financial years and service types. If your local authority provides bespoke uplifts only through costing exercises, please provide the dates on which the first uplift was agreed, along with the dates on which the fifth-from-last package was agreed.

     

    Financial year

    65+ Residential/Nursing

    Working age Residential/Nursing

    Supported Living

    Care at Home

    2026/27

     

     

     

     

    2025/26

     

     

     

     

    2024/25

     

     

     

     

    2023/24

     

     

     

     


    Q3) Please outline whether your local authority has any policy around the timing of its annual adult social care fee review, or any KPI around the same issue.

    Q4) Please complete the following table with the percentage of social care packages where fee uplifts were communicated to care providers before April the 1st for the following financial years and service types.

     

    Financial year

    65+ Residential/Nursing

    Working age Residential/Nursing

    Supported Living

    Care at Home

    2026/27

     

     

     

     

    2025/26

     

     

     

     

    2024/25

     

     

     

     

    2023/24

     

     

     

     


    Q5) Please complete the following table showing the number of care packages commissioned by your local authority where an uplift is yet to be agreed for the 2026/27 financial year as of the 22nd of September 2026.

     

     

     

    65+ Residential/Nursing

    Working age Residential/Nursing

    Supported Living

    Care at Home

    Number of uplifts yet to be agreed

     

     

     

     

     

    Published: 16 October 2026

  4. Street Lighting - Unitary 2/2

    Please provide the following information about street lights maintained by the council as highway authority.

    Question 1. As at 31 December in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025, please state:

    (a) the total number of street lights maintained by the council;

    (b) the number of those lights subject to part-night lighting, meaning they are switched off completely for any part of the night;

    (c) the number of those lights subject to dimming, meaning they remain lit but operate at reduced brightness for any part of the night.

    If figures at 31 December are not held, please use the nearest date for which they are, and state that date.

    Question 2. In each of the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025, please state:

    (a) the number of street light faults reported to the council;

    (b) the council’s target time for repairing a standard street light fault, in working days;

    (c) the number of faults repaired within that target time.

    Question 3. In each of the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, please state

    (a) the total amount spent by the council on street lighting, and of that total

    (b) the amount spent on electricity.

    Question 4. For part-night lighting and for dimming, please state the standard hours during which lights are switched off or dimmed (for example, midnight to 5.30am), whether those hours vary by season, and the year in which each policy was introduced.

    Question 5. If readily available, please state the annual saving estimated or achieved from (a) part-night lighting and (b) dimming in the most recent financial year for which a figure exists.

    Definitions. “Street light” means a lighting column or lantern on the adopted highway maintained by the council; it excludes lights maintained by parish or town councils, housing providers or private landowners, and lights on trunk roads and motorways maintained by National Highways. Where the council’s street lighting is delivered through a PFI or other contractor, please answer for the lights covered by that contract.

    Published: 16 October 2026

  5. Inspection and test purchasing for vape products

    Please provide the following information for each year since 2020, in a spreadsheet format where possible:

    Inspection coverage and test purchasing The number of premises in your area identified as selling vaping products, as at 31 March each year.

    The separate premises at which you carried out a test purchase of vaping products, and of those, how many sold to the underage volunteer.

    What number of advice, compliance or inspection visits to premises selling vaping products, excluding test purchases.

    The number of premises identified as selling vaping products that received no visit of any kind and no test purchase during the year.

    Premises trading while not on the Register

    The number of premises identified as carrying on a tobacco or nicotine vapor product business in breach of legislation governing the sale of those products, i.e. premises selling to people under the legal age.

    How those premises came to your attention - proactive checking, third-party complaint, or another route.

    What action was taken against the premises at question

    5. Enforcement action

    The number of fixed penalty notices issued in connection with vaping products.

    The number of written warnings issued.

    The number of cases reported for prosecution.

    The number of applications for a restricted premises order under the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, or any equivalent order under previous legislation, and how many were granted.

    The number of convictions you are aware of arising from those reports.

    Reports from the public, resourcing and policy

    The number of complaints or reports from the public alleging sale of vaping products to an under-18.

    Of those, how many led to a visit or test purchase within 12 weeks.

    The number of full-time equivalent trading standards officers at 31 March each year, and how many had tobacco and vaping duties.

    Whether there is a written policy, target or minimum inspection frequency, and a copy if so.

    The value of government grant funding for tobacco and nicotine vapour product enforcement each year.

    Published: 16 October 2026

  6. Petrol pumps giving short measure

    For each financial year 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, and separately for 2026/27 to the date of this request, please provide:

    1. The number of petrol/diesel retail fuel dispensers tested by Trading Standards which were found to be outside the permitted error limits in the consumer's disfavour, i.e. dispensing less fuel than the quantity indicated to the customer.

    2. Of those dispensers, the number that were disqualified/taken out of use, issued with a notice requiring correction, or otherwise required to be adjusted or repaired.

    For 2025/26 and 2026/27 to date only:

    3. Please provide details of the ten dispensers with the greatest recorded shortfalls in each period, or all such dispensers if fewer than ten were identified. For each, please provide, where electronically recorded: - the trading name and address of the petrol station; - the date of the test; - the size of the shortfall, in whatever form it is recorded, for example percentage error or volume discrepancy; and - the action taken.

    I am not asking the authority to perform new calculations. If the trading name or precise address is considered exempt from disclosure, please provide the remaining information requested for that case, including the town or other less specific location where this can be disclosed.

    Published: 16 October 2026

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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