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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2,481 disclosures

  1. Please provide the following information:

    1. Regarding RIPA Authorisation and Compliance

    •       Can you confirm how many RIPA authorisations were requested, granted, and refused in the last five years, and provide anonymised details of the nature of these authorisations?

    •       Can you provide a copy of the procedures and criteria used for assessing whether RIPA authorisation is needed for covert surveillance, and confirm who is responsible for reviewing these criteria?

    •       What training do staff undergo to ensure compliance with RIPA when conducting surveillance activities, and when was the last training session conducted?

    •       If RIPA authorisation was refused, what alternative measures were taken to achieve the same surveillance objectives without breaching privacy rights?

    2. Regarding Policies and Procedures

    •       How often are your surveillance policies, including RIPA policies, reviewed and updated, and can you provide a copy of the latest review or audit findings?

    •       Can you confirm whether any complaints or legal challenges have been made against the council regarding misuse of RIPA powers or improper surveillance in the past five years? What were the outcomes?

    •       What safeguards are in place to ensure that surveillance conducted without RIPA authorisation is always compliant with data protection laws and individuals' privacy rights?

    Published: 21 November 2024

  2. Please treat the following as a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

    1. How many sites has the council identified as potentially contaminated land since the Environmental Protection Act (part 2) came into force in April 2000?

    2. Of those how many were prioritised as the highest risk category?

    3 How many of these high-risk sites have since been re- assessed and downgraded as not contaminated/or not priority.

    4. Of the sites you have designated under the highest risk category, how many have been inspected (i.e. a physical intrusive investigation and not a desktop study)?

    5. How many sites inspected had significant levels of contamination, but have since been remediated to remove any significant risk to health?

    6. Are there any sites that have been inspected, wherein significant risk to health from contamination was identified, but remedial work has not been completed? If so, please provide with the number of these sites.

    7. Are you able to supply us with the reports from your Part 2A of Environment Protection Act (1990) investigations which have already been carried out by the council? Links or attached documents would be acceptable.

    8. How many of your high-risk category sites have had an intrusive investigation ( i.e. physical intrusive investigation) in the last 10 years ( i.e. since 2014)?

    Published: 21 November 2024

  3. Please provide the following information:

     

    (Authorisations With and Without RIPA)

     

    1.      Regarding Authorisation and Documentation

     

    o       Can you provide the documentation that outlines the council's policy for accessing individuals' social media or websites for investigative purposes, including the criteria for determining whether RIPA authorisation is required?

     

    o       How many times in the past five years has the council accessed social media profiles or websites of private individuals, and were these accesses authorised under RIPA or similar legislation?

     

    o       What guidelines are in place to prevent repeated, unauthorised access to private or restricted social media accounts or websites, such as those which a member of the public may have restricted or blocked Herefordshire Council access to - and who is responsible for ensuring these guidelines are followed?

     

    2.      Regarding Training and Compliance

     

    o       What training is provided to council staff on the appropriate handling and use of information obtained from individuals' social media or websites, including understanding when RIPA authorisation is necessary?

     

    o       Can you provide details of any internal audits or reviews conducted in the past five years regarding unauthorised visits to individuals’ social media or websites? What were the outcomes?

     

    3.      Regarding Notifications and Disclosures

    o       If unauthorised access to an individual’s social media or website has been identified, what is the procedure for notifying the individual concerned, and is there any record of such notifications in the past five years?

     

    4.      Regarding Accountability and Redress

    o       If an individual requests information about council staff visits to their social media or website, what specific data are provided, including detailed access logs and information on the purpose of each visit?

    Published: 21 November 2024

  4. For each financial year, from 2019-20 to 2023-24, please provide:

    • The number of trees planted by the council, its contractors and/or other organisations funded by the council

    • The number of trees removed by those listed above

    • The number of trees removed after Tree Preservation Orders for those trees were lifted

    • The number of trees removed after Tree Preservation Orders for those trees were lifted that were the subject of subsidence claims

    Published: 20 November 2024

  5. Please provide the following information:

    1. Regarding Subject Access Requests (SARs)

    •       How do you verify that all relevant data, including metadata, log files, and potentially deleted records, are included in a Subject Access Request response?

    •       What is the process for handling SARs that involve data which may have been collected through surveillance whether covert or directed? Are there specific criteria for determining whether to disclose such data?

    •       If a SAR request reveals surveillance data collected without RIPA authorisation, what procedures are in place to investigate whether the surveillance was lawful?

    •       How do you document decisions to redact or withhold information in response to a SAR, and who is responsible for approving these decisions?

    2. Combining RIPA and SAR Issues

    •       Have there been instances where data gathered under RIPA authorisation or without RIPA authorisation was disclosed to individuals through a SAR, and if so, how was the risk of compromising ongoing investigations managed?

    •       If a SAR relates to a time period when surveillance was being conducted, does the council notify the data subject about the existence of surveillance logs, and under what circumstances would this information be withheld?

    •       Regarding requests for data linking from external to internal networks and staff usage, what level of log data is recorded (e.g., date, time, user, operating system, browser, digital fingerprint etc.) and how long is this data retained in the event of challenges or legal redress by a member of the public?

    •       In the case of potential legal inquiries, what measures are implemented to ensure that relevant log data is not inappropriately altered, destroyed, or concealed?

    Published: 20 November 2024

  6. * Please can you inform me as to the name and email address for the person(s) that manage the IT asset recycling and hard drive destruction and also the name and email address for the person(s) responsible for making the final decision as to who Herefordshire Council decide to use for ITAD and HDD services?

    * Please can you inform me as to when any ongoing IT Recycling/Hard Drive Destruction service/supplier contract/framework agreement ends?

    * Please can you inform me of any set, scheduled or sporadic dates that Herefordshire Council are next due to require IT recycling and hard drive destruction services.

    Published: 20 November 2024

  7. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would be most grateful if you could provide the following information regarding your ICT Infrastructure.

    1. What is your annual IT Budget for 2024, 2025 & 2026?

    2. Storage: A) What storage vendor(s) and models do you currently use? B) What is the capacity of the storage data in TB & How much of this is utilised?

    C) What were the installation dates of the above storage vendor(s) and when do you estimate you will refresh them? (Month/Year)

    D) Do you have any extended warranties, if so, with which supplier?

    E) Which reseller(s) provides the above technology, what was the value of the contract, and when does the contract(s) end?

    3. Server/Compute:

    A) What number of physical servers do you have?

    B) What server vendor(s) and models do you currently use?

    C) What were the installation dates of the above server vendor(s) and when do you estimate you’ll refresh them? (Month/Year)

    D) Do you have any extended warranties, if so, with which supplier?

    E) Which operating systems are used?

    F) Are you currently using VMWare, do you have any plan to move away from VMWare?

    G) Which reseller(s) provides the above technology, what was the value of the contract, and when does the contract(s) end?

    4. End User Technologies

    A) How many users within your organisation receive a laptop or desktop device?

    B) What laptop and desktop device vendor(s) and models do you currently use?

    C) How many mobile phones are used within your organisation?

    D) What mobile vendor(s) do you currently use?

    E) Which reseller(s) provides the above technology and when does the contract(s) end?

    F) Have you transitioned to Windows 11, or do you have a plan in place to transition to Windows 11.

    G) Is your current device estate compatible with Windows 11?

    H) What deployment methods are you using (e.g SCCM or Intune/Autopilot)?

    5. Managed Print Services

    A) What number of MFDs and production print devices do you have?

    B) Who is the current vendor(s) and the suppliers(s) and when do these contracts end?

    C) What is your annual spend on Managed Print Services?

    D) Do you use any document management or scanning / storage services? If so please can you provide the details of the supplier and the end date of the contract.

    6. ITSM/ESM & Business Process Automation

    A) What IT Service Management / Enterprise Service Management tool do you currently use and who supplies it?

    B) When was your current system installed and when does the contract or support expire?

    C) Do you utilise Business Process Automation or have a plan to implement this tooling?

    7. Do you have a managed/shared service with any other organisations?

    8. Do you normally purchase equipment and services as a capital investment (CapEx) or ongoing operational charges (OpEx)?

    Published: 20 November 2024

  8. R.E. Temporary traffic lights installed in Ledbury under the railway bridge.

    These traffic lights are causing long tail backs of traffic which obstruct not only entry to station but also access for those living along the connecting roads. There were absolutely no traffic tail backs prior to the recent road works or installation of these traffic lights. I would like to know how much of our money has been spent on this project and why there was no prior consultation.

    The county is pitted with dangerous pot holes and I wonder why the money was spent in the tax payers proper interest repairing the decaying county road system?

    Published: 19 November 2024

  9. How many units of e-cigarettes/vaping devices/e-liquid goods were seized in total across the time periods?

    How many units of cigarette packs were seized?

    The number of identified cases of illegal vaping products being in possession of, stocked, or sold by businesses or individuals

    How many (count of) fines or penalties have been issued for being in possession of, stocking, or selling illegal vapes?

    What was the value in £ pound sterling of each fine issued by your local authority? How many retailers have been given premises closure orders in relation to illegal vape operations?

    Please present this data annually for each of the below periods: 1st January 2024 > 17th October 2024 1st January 2023 > 31st Dec 2023 1st January 2022 > 31st Dec 2022 1st January 2021 > 31st Dec 2021 1st January 2020 > 31st Dec 2020

    Published: 19 November 2024

  10. I would like to politely request information under the Freedom of Information Act:

    1) SIP Trunking

    a) Have you implemented SIP?

    b) If yes, when does the contract expire?

    c) Who is your SIP provider?

    d) The email address of the primary contact for this contract?

    2) Team Licences

    a) Which Microsoft 365 Licence do you have e.g. E3, E5 Have you voice enable your Teams Licences?

    b) If not, is that something you are considering?

    3) Telephony

    a) What is your current telephony system?

    b) How many users of the telephony system?

    c) When is the contract up for renewal?

    d) The email address of the primary contact for this contract?

    4) Contact Centre

    a) What contact centre solution is the council using?

    b) How many agents does the contact centre employ?

    c) How many agents are concurrently working?

    d) When is the contract for the contact centre ending?

    5) Mobile phones

    a) Who is your current mobile phone provider?

    b) How many mobile connections?

    c) When is the contract up for renewal?

    d) How long do you contract for (24 or 36 months)?

    e) The email address of the primary contact for this contract?

    Published: 19 November 2024