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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2,773 disclosures

  1. Parking offences from January 2020 - June 2023

    1. Please give details of the parking enforcement actions that you (or contractors on your behalf) took over the past three years (2020, 2021, 2022, 1st Jan - 30 June 2023):

    • Total number of parking enforcement notices issued.

    • Number of parking tickets (Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) or an Excess Charge Notice (ECN)) issued.

    • Council net revenue (after paying contractors) from parking fines (Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) or an Excess Charge Notice (ECN)).

    Published: 29 November 2023

  2. Temporary Accommodation Policy and Procedure

    Can you please provide me with the following documents via the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: Eviction from Temporary Accommodation Policy and Procedure.

    Published: 29 November 2023

  3. Covid marshalls

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

    1. What is the total number of Covid Marshalls currently employed?

    2. What is the total number of Covid Marshalls employed since January 2020?

    3. What was the average contract duration?

    4. What is the total cost spent on Covid Marshalls since January 2020?

    Published: 28 November 2023

  4. Top 10 borrowed library books for the last five years

    My request concerns library books.

    Could you please send me the following information:

    - The top 10 most borrowed books at your libraries in the each of the last five calendar years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 (to the latest available date).

    I'm asking for one list for each year - in other words, the top 10 across all your libraries, not individual top 10s for each library.

    If any of this information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, including website links as appropriate.

    Published: 28 November 2023

  5. Section 60 Costs Charged To Leaseholders for Statutory Lease Extensions

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting information regarding Section 60 costs under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993), specifically those costs that have been passed on to leaseholders who have extended their leases where the council was the Competent Landlord.

    To facilitate an analysis on the costs that leaseholders are liable when they extend their leases I would appreciate if you could provide the following data in a csv file with the following columns:

    1. Date of completion - YYYY/MM/DD

    2. Premium Paid - Integer

    3. Section 60 costs - Integer

    This data should be provided for the most recent 100 lease extensions that have completed where the council was the Competent Landlord.

    Published: 28 November 2023

  6. Supported accommodation for looked after children and care leavers from 01/11/23

    I am writing to make a Freedom of Information Act request for information about the Council's provision for supported accommodation for looked after children and care leavers aged 16-18 (i.e. accommodation which is currently in the process of being regulated by Ofsted).

    Please may I have the following information:

    1. Number of children and young people placed in supported accommodation by the local authority as at 01/11/23 broken down by:

    (a) the type of supported accommodation (i.e. semi-independent, supported lodgings etc);

    (b) the status of the CYP (i.e. LAC, UASC etc).

    2. Of the total number of placements in (1) above, the percentage of children placed in supported accommodation:

    (a) inside the local authority boundary

    (b) outside the local authority boundary.

    3. Of the total number of placements in (1) above, the percentage of placements that are currently procured via:

    (a) framework agreement,

    (b) block contract,

    (c) spot purchase,

    (d) other procurement arrangements.

    4. For the last date that data is available, what was the:

    (a) highest weekly cost to the local authority of a placement in supported accommodation,

    (b) lowest weekly cost to the local authority of a placement in supported accommodation,

    (c) average weekly cost to the local authority of a placement in supported accommodation.

    5. Email address for the team within the local authority who commission supported accommodation placements.

    Published: 24 November 2023

  7. Minor and major planning application statistics from 2020 - 2023

    In accordance with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I write with 7 separate requests for information:

    1) How many minor planning applications were received by the authority in

    (a) 2020-21,

    (b) 2021-22,

    (c) 2022-23?

    2) How many minor planning applications were determined by the authority in

    (a) 2020-21,

    (b) 2021-22,

    (c) 2022-23?

    3) How many major planning applications were received by the authority in

    (a) 2020-21,

    (b) 2021-22,

    (c) 2022-23?

    4) How many major planning applications were determined by the authority in

    (a) 2020-21,

    (b) 2021-22,

    (c) 2022-23?

    5) For major applications determined during 2020-21, how many were determined:

    (a) In under 13 weeks,

    (b) In 13 to 26 weeks,

    (c) In 27 to 52 weeks and

    (d) In more than 52 weeks.

    6) For major applications determined during 2021-22, how many were determined:

    (a) In under 13 weeks,

    (b) In 13 to 26 weeks,

    (c) In 27 to 52 weeks; and

    (d) In more than 52 weeks.

    7) For major applications determined during 2022-23, how many were determined:

    (a) In under 13 weeks,

    (b) In 13 to 26 weeks,

    (c) In 27 to 52 weeks; and

    (d) In more than 52 weeks.

    Published: 23 November 2023

  8. Council Use of Bailiffs/Enforcement Agents between 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023

    FOI Request - Herefordshire Council use of bailiffs/enforcement agents in 2022/2023

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we would like to request the following information.

    1. The number of times between 1st April 2022 and 31st March 2023, or the nearest available twelve-month period, that private bailiffs/enforcement agents have been instructed to enforce debts to the local authority relating to each of the following;

    a. Council Tax

    b. Parking

    c. Housing Benefit overpayments

    d. Business Rates

    e. Commercial Rents

    f. Any other debt types, including any other overpayments.

    By "private bailiffs/enforcement agents" we mean those who are self-employed or who work for private companies, including as high court enforcement officers. Please include cases where local authority employees have visited a property to enforce a warrant of control.

    2. Before seeking a liability order for a resident for Council Tax arrears, do you take any of the following steps? Please indicate the steps you take.

    * Assessment of their income and expenditure,

    * Assessment of whether the resident (or anyone else) in their household is vulnerable,

    * Referral to your Council Tax Reduction / Support scheme,

    * Referral to income maximisation,

    * Referral to a free debt advice organisation.

    3. Do you signpost residents to one or more free debt advice agencies as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No) If so, which charities?

    4. Have you adopted the Standard Financial Statement as a tool for objectively assessing income and expenditure as part of your Council Tax collections process? (Yes/No)

    5. Do you have a formal policy in place for dealing with residents in vulnerable circumstances as part of your collections process for Council Tax arrears? (Yes/No)

    If so, please may you provide a copy of the policy if it is for public consumption.

    6. Do you currently have a policy of exempting recipients of Council Tax Support / Reduction from the use of bailiff action? (Yes/No)

    7. Have you adopted the Citizens Advice/Local Government Association Council Tax Protocol? (Yes/No)

    Please provide each set of information above separately in your response. We would prefer to receive your response in electronic format, either included in the body of an email or as an attachment in Excel, Word or PDF format.

    Published: 22 November 2023

  9. Translation practices and use of translation technologies

    Please find attached a list of questions as a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, on the use, training and policies regarding translation services and technology in your organisation. We would appreciate it if you did your best to complete the questionnaire with answers that fully represent your organisation's practices and policies.

    Published: 22 November 2023

  10. Use of generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) by employees

    I am writing to make an open government request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would like answers to the question below:

    1) Are your employees allowed to use generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, Jasper, etc.) in the workplace for work purposes?

    2) Do you have a usage policy in place on the use of generative AI in the workplace? (NOTE: If employees are not allowed to use generative AI as per Q1, please answer "yes").

    3) If yes to the above question, can you please share your usage policy with us?

    4) Have you had incidents of the following since Jan 1st 2022? If possible please also share the number of incidents.

    a) Employees using generative AI outside the bounds of the workplace usage policy (if one exists)?

    b) Employees sharing confidential information (e.g. private personal data of employees or residents; confidential financial information) on generative AI platforms

    5) Has your organisation taken disciplinary action against employees for their use of generative AI - e.g. for using it outside the bounds of the workplace usage policy? If possible, please also share the number of incidents.

    6) Assuming your employees can use generative AI platforms at work - can they use publicly available open source tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and Jasper?

    7) Do you have a specific technology budget allocated to implementing generative AI tools in the workplace, and/or educating employees on their use? If so, and if possible, can you share the budget between Jan 1 2022 and Dec 31st 2024 (or nearest equivalent)?

    Published: 22 November 2023