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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1,971 disclosures

  1. Looked after children in P1 placements as of 01/09/24, 01/04/24 and 01/04/23

    Please can you inform us of the number of looked after children up have in P1 placements 'placement with parents' as of:

    1. 1st September 2024 - or the nearest date to this.

    2. April 1st 2024 - or the nearest date to this.

    3. April 1st 2023 - or the nearest date to this.

    Published: 11 October 2024

  2. Crematoria facilities for the last 4 years

    Please could you provide the following information for all crematoria facilities under your authority. If your authority is responsible for more than one crematorium, please provide data for each crematorium separately. Questions are listed in order of priority.

    1. Energy Consumption and Cost:

    • How much energy, in kilowatt-hours (kWh), was consumed via cremations for each of the past four years (year end 31st March, latest year being y/e 31st March 2024)?

    This is referring only to the energy consumption of the cremation itself, as opposed to ancillary energy use in the crematorium. If this information is not available, please provide total Scope 1 emissions from cremations over the same period as an alternative.

    • Could you please provide data on the cost of this energy consumption for each of the past four years (year end 31st March, latest year being y/e 31st March 2024)?

    2. Cremation Pricing and Frequency:

    • Could you please provide data on the average revenue received for an attended and an unattended cremation for each of the past four years (year end 31st March, latest year being y/e 31st March 2024)? This is referring to cremation fees charged. Please provide separate answers for attended and unattended cremations, if possible.

    • What is the total number of attended and unattended cremations that have taken place for each of the past four years (year end 31st March, latest year being y/e 31st March 2024) in your crematorium? Please provide separate answers for attended and unattended cremations, if possible.

    • Please also provide data on ‘ancillary’ cremation revenue received for each of the past four years (year end 31st March, latest year being y/e 31st March 2024). By ‘ancillary’, we mean any additional revenues received related to cremations, but outside of the core cremation fee. For example: cremation memorials / cremation plots, provision of in-house celebrant, photo tributes, etc.. Please provide data on this revenue broken down by type of revenue as is possible. If the information could be provided in a structured format in an excel format that would be much appreciated.

    Published: 11 October 2024

  3. Herefordshire Council Vehicle Fleet

    I am writing to you today under The Freedom of Information act. Please can you provide me with the following:

    1. Fleet Size and List.

    2. Value of vehicle hire expenditure for 2023.

    Published: 10 October 2024

  4. Spend on diversions of telecommunication utilities in 2022 and 2023

    I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information please;

    1)a) How much is spent directly by the Council on the diversion of telecommunication utilities in 2022 and 2023?

    1)b) Of this amount, how much was spent with Openreach?

    1)c) How much was spent with Virgin Media?

    1)d) How much was spent with City Fibre?

    2) If known, how much is spent indirectly by the Council on the diversion of telecommunication utilities in 2022 and 2023, by paying developers to do this work on the council's behalf?

    3) Does the Council have any resources in-house (or externally) to audit these costs and mitigate them or reduce them in any way?

    Published: 10 October 2024

  5. Personal injury claims and road maintenance expenditures from 2013-2023

    I am writing to submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I am seeking detailed information regarding personal injury claims and road maintenance expenditures managed by Herefordshire Council over the past 10 years. Specifically, I would like to request the following information for each year from 2013 to 2023. Please provide the data broken down by each individual year, from 2013 to 2023.

    1) Total Amount Paid Out for Personal Injury Claims:

    a) The total amount of money paid out by the council for personal injury claims.

    2) Number of Personal Injury Claims:

    a) The total number of personal injury claims submitted to the council.

    3) Average Compensation Payout for Personal Injury Claims:

    a) The average amount of compensation paid out per personal injury claim.

    4) Expenditure on Fixing Potholes/Road Repairs:

    a) The total amount of money spent by the council on fixing potholes and other road repairs.

    5) Number of Highways Inspectors:

    a) The number of highways inspectors employed by the council.

    Published: 9 October 2024

  6. The Future of the county farm estate within the UK

    The purpose of this information request is to gather information on the current and future status of the county farm estate within the UK.

    1.     How many county farm holdings do you have?

     

    Number of holdings

    Number of acres

    Equipped (house, buildings and land)

     

     

     

    Non-equipped (buildings and land)

     

     

     

    Bare land only

     

     

     

     

     

    2.     What is the current structure of your county farm estate?

     

     

    Total number of tenants

     

    Average age of tenants

     

    Number of tenants who are new entrants to farming

     

    Number of tenants with no family history in agriculture

     

    Total net income from estate

     

    Total value of estate

     

     

     

    3.     Please complete the following table in relation of the movement of tenants on the estate over the past 3 years

     

    Number

    New tenancies granted

    To existing tenants

     

    To previously established farmers (not from county farms estate)

     

    New entrants to farming

     

     

     

    Progression of tenants

    To a new farm on county farm estate

     

    To private tenanted sector

     

    Purchased a farm

     

    Retired and moved off estate

     

    Left farming industry but not retired

     

    Unknown

     

     

    4.     What factors do you consider when considering a new tenant for a farm?

     

    5.     Have you sold any of your county farm holdings in the last 5 years?

     

    Yes

     

    No

     

     

    6.     If yes, please explain the factors which led to this decision.

     

     

    7.     Do you have any plans to dispose of any of your county farm holdings within the next 5 years?

     

    Yes

     

    No

     

     

    8.     If yes, please explain what factors have led to this decision.

     

     

     

    9.     Have you used any of your county farms to support wider council objectives e.g. the use of care farms or to support sustainability goals?

     

     

    10.  What do you consider are the five biggest benefits to the county farm estate?

     

    11.  What are the five biggest challenges that currently face the county farm estate?

     

    12.  What are your future plans for your county farm estate?

     

    Published: 7 October 2024

  7. Planning applications and biodiversity net gain (BNG) compliance since 12/02/24

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding planning applications and biodiversity net gain (BNG) compliance.

    Specifically, I am requesting the following information, with data broken down by calendar month since 12 February 2024:

    1. The total number of planning applications received by your authority that were subject to the mandatory statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements. (For the avoidance of doubt, please include both applications received that claimed BNG applied to their development AND applications that claimed BNG did not apply on their site (i.e. they claimed an exemption)).

    2. The total number of planning applications that:

    a. Claimed to be exempt from BNG

    b. Of this number, please provide the number that:

    i. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the householder exemption

    ii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the de minimis exemption (developments impacting less than 25 square metres of habitat or 5 metres of linear habitat)

    iii. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under the self-build and custom-build exemptions

    iv. Claimed they were exempt from the BNG requirements under different criteria

    3. For the answer to 2b(ii), 2b(iii) and 2b(iv) please set out

    a. How many of these claims of exemption were accepted by the validation team

    b. Of this number, how many applications provided a complete statutory biodiversity metric sheet or Small Site Metric Sheet to demonstrate that they were genuinely entitled to an exemption

    Published: 4 October 2024

  8. Elective Home Education figures for academic years 2022-23 and 2023-24

    Please could I check the data I have for your council is correct - as I notice there is quite a big jump?

    Newly registered EHE pupils in academic year 2022-23: 23

    Newly registered EHE pupils in academic year 2023-2024: 227

    If those figures are correct, are you able to explain the reasons for the jump?

    CLARIFICATION: I wanted to check firstly whether the numbers are correct, and if so, I am wondering if there may be a reason for the jump, such as the system of recording the data changing, or an additional focus on recording, under-reporting – any insights that you are able to give.

    Published: 4 October 2024

  9. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) 23/24 - 24/25

    Please find below some questions about how the council is implementing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG):

    1. Please can you indicate what, if any, software the council has obtained specifically to help with implementing the following aspects of BNG?

    a. Validation of applications, including checking that the correct version of the Biodiversity Metric has been submitted.

    b. Determination of applications subject to BNG, including assessment of ecological considerations.

    c. Determining if the biodiversity gain objective (biodiversity gain condition) is met.

    d. Monitoring of planning obligations set out under S106 agreements or Conservation Covenants, analogous to other planning obligations.

    e. Ecological monitoring of BNG habitats, a new statutory duty required by legislation, including ensuring that individual habitats on a given site are progressing in line with expectations set out in the Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan.

    f. Statutory reporting of BNG habitat progress under the NERC Act Biodiversity Duty.

    2. Is the council generating income, or planning to generate income, by charging BNG monitoring fees? If so, how are you calculating this fee?

    3. Please answer the questions below to indicate if the council has made use of the government’s new burdens funding for BNG in the financial year 23/24:

    a. How much of the funding was spent by the council in this year?

    b. What was the funding spent on?

    4. Please answer the questions below to indicate if the council has made use of the government’s new burdens funding for BNG in the financial year 24/25:

    a. How much of the funding was spent by the council in this year?

    b. What was the funding spent on?

    Published: 4 October 2024

  10. Elective Home Education (EHE)

    1. Understanding scale and nature of elective home education in your area:

    • Have you seen an increase in the total number of children who are home educated during the last 6 years (2018/19-2023/24)? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    • Can you give us the total number of children who were EHE in the year 2018/19 and 2023/24? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    • Has there has been an increase in the number of children on a Child in Need plan who are EHE over the last 6 years? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    • Has there been an increase in the number of children on a Child Protection plan who are EHE over the last 6 years? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    2. Understanding resource attributed to monitor and support EHE families in your area:

    • At the time of this request, how many FTE staff are allocated to monitor and support EHE families?

    • Has the number of FTE staff allocated to monitor and support EHE increased over past 6 years? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    • How many visits did your local authority make to EHE families in the year 2023/24?

    • Has the number of total visits increased over the past 6 years (2018/19-2023/24)? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    • Has the number of school attendance orders increased over the past 6 years (2018/19-2023/24)? (Yes/no/don’t know)

    Published: 4 October 2024