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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3,004 disclosures

  1. Incidents where Refuse Collectors were Physically Assaulted by the Public in 2025/26

    1. In the last financial year 2025/26, how many incidents did your authority record where refuse collectors were physically assaulted by members of the public while carrying out council duties?

    Please give a brief description of the circumstances of the incident.

    Published: 8 June 2026

  2. Print and Postal Communications

    Unless otherwise stated, please provide figures covering the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

    Print and Postal Communications

    The total number of letters sent by the authority.

    Of these letters:


    a. Number sent via 1st class post


    b. Number sent via 2nd class post


    The number of letters printed and posted in‑house.


    The number of letters sent via a hybrid mail service.


    If hybrid mail is used:


    a. The name of the hybrid mail provider (e.g. Whistl, UK Mail, etc.).

     

    b. The date the current arrangement was agreed.

    c. The contract expiry date (if applicable).

     

    Digital Communication Portals

    The number of digital communication portals currently operated by the authority.

     

    The name(s) of the digital portal provider(s).

     

    For each digital portal:

    a. The month and year it went live

     

    b. The number of citizens registered

     

    c. The approximate number of communications sent via the portal during the period.

     

    The preferred framework used (if any) for procuring digital communication platforms.

     

    Digital Transformation and Channel Mix

    Please state whether the authority has an active digital transformation programme relating to citizen communications (yes/no).


    Whether the authority uses email as an outbound communication channel for residents (yes/no).

     


    Responsible Roles

    The name of the Manager responsible for:

    a. Print and post management

    b. Parking services

    c. Accounts payable

    d. Digital transformation

    For each role above, please provide a Specific email address where available.

    Published: 8 June 2026

  3. Current Contract which Funds the Operation of Local Bus Services

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

    I would greatly appreciate if you could you provide, for each current contract under which this authority funds (in whole or in part) the operation of local bus services, the following:

    1. The name of the operator / contracting entity.

    2. The contract commencement date and length of contract.

    3. Details of any extension options, including:

    a. whether the contract contains an extension provision;

    b. the length of each possible extension; and

    c. the latest possible expiry date if all extensions were exercised.

    4. The total amount of funding paid by this authority under each contract in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, or, if that is not available, the most recent 12-month period held in recorded form.

    5. Whether the operator is entitled to retain farebox revenue under the contract and, if so:

    a. whether all or part of fare revenue is retained by the operator;

    b. If part is retained what proportion.

    6. For each supported fixed-route service operated under the contract:

    a. route/service number or identifier;

    b. passenger numbers for the most recent full financial year or other full 12-month period if available;

    c. subsidy per passenger for the same period if available.

    7. How was the contract procured? For example on a direct award, DPS, open tender of other framework

    Published: 8 June 2026

  4. Financial cost of placements in non-Ofsted-registered / approved accommodation

    Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

    1. How many children has the local authority placed in accommodation that is not Ofsted-registered / approved since 2023? By this, we mean strictly accommodation that operates as a children's home (for example, defined as Class C2 residential institutions in planning terms), not foster care or any placement with relatives who may have guardianship orders.

    2. Please indicate how many of these placements were in-area or out-of-area.

    3. What was the length of the longest single placement in such accommodation?

    4. What has been the total cost of all such placements over the period?

    5. How many children has the local authority placed in Ofsted-registered / approved accommodation in the same period?

    6. How many Ofsted-registered / approved children's home places are available in-area in total?

    7. How many children's homes are operated by the local authority?

    8. Ofsted is clear that any accommodation that operates as a children's home without registration is illegal, and the people running it are committing a criminal offence.

    Please provide information as to what risk assessment is undertaken when the authority decides to place a young person in such accommodation, and why a decision to do so would be made by the authority. Please note we are requesting a general position statement, not a response in relation to each individual placement.

    Published: 4 June 2026

  5. School Transport - Costs, Budgets, Frameworks SEND, PRU and Mainstream

    Below are the details of my FOI request:

    This request is for recorded information only.

    If data is not held in the exact format requested, please provide the closest aggregated format available.

    For question 1-3 please provide data for each of the last three completed financial years (2023/24–2025/26), broken down into: SEND, PRU & Mainstream.

    (If 2025/26 is not available please provide 2022/23 - 2024/25)

    Where the requested SEND / PRU / Mainstream breakdown is not held, please provide the total figure in the format held and briefly state the basis used.

    Q1 - The total gross spend on home-to-school transport.

    Q2 – The total number of pupils transported.

    Q3 - The total number of transport routes operated. (If routes are not categorised, please provide a total route count with clarification.)

    Q4 - Procurement Route

    Please state the primary procurement route(s) used (e.g. DPS, framework, open tender) and, where held, the approximate proportion of spend by route.

    Q5 - Contract Register / Award Structure

    Please provide one of the following:

    · A link to your public contract register covering home-to-school transport, or

    · Confirmation that contracts are awarded at individual route level (e.g. via DPS) and are not held as a single consolidated contract.

    Q6 - Digital Systems

    Please list the main systems used for home-to-school transport, for example:

    · Procurement / tendering (e.g. In-tend)

    · Route planning (e.g. QRoutes, Trapeze)

    · Operations / case management / invoicing (e.g. MRI)

    · Compliance or driver checks (e.g. in-house compliance modules, DBS checking systems, licensing or badge management systems)

    For each system or process, please provide:

    · System name

    · Whether it is in-house or third-party

    · Aggregated costs

    Q7 - Staffing

    Please provide the total number of council staff involved in the end-to-end delivery of the home-to-school transport service, together with the aggregated annual salary cost for those staff.

    This should include, where applicable, staff involved in:

    · commissioning

    · procurement

    · route planning

    · service management

    · administration

    · client transport / licensing

    · compliance

    · operational delivery

    And separately:

    · in-house drivers

    · in-house passenger assistants / escorts

    Q8 - Winning Bid Prices (Aggregated)

    For the last three completed financial years, please provide one of the following, whichever is most readily available:

    · Average winning day rate for home-to-school transport routes

    · Minimum and maximum winning day rate, or

    · Winning day-rate bandings (e.g. £50–£75, £75–£100, £100–£125, etc.)

    Q9 - Award Method

    Please confirm:

    · Whether routes are typically awarded to the lowest priced compliant bid, or

    · Whether other factors are routinely applied (e.g. quality weighting).

    Q10 - Route Level Data

    Please provide the following fields in an Excel, CSV or any other structured format.

    · Route reference or number

    · Contract start date

    · Contract end date

    · Winning bid price (day rate or equivalent)

    · Route mileage

    · Vehicle type (high-level category if held i.e 4-8 Seater, WAV, Minibus, Bus etc.)

    · Whether a passenger assistant is required (Y/N)

    · Number of passengers (if held)

    We are not requesting any commercially sensitive details.

    Q11. Delivery Model

    At a high level, please confirm whether routes are typically delivered by:

    · Operators employing drivers

    · Self-employed drivers contracting directly

    · A mix of both

    Published: 4 June 2026

  6. Reports and Seizures of Counterfeit/Fake Toys in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding counterfeit, fake, unsafe, or non-compliant toys reported to or seized by your Trading Standards service in the last five calendar years.

    Please provide the following information for each of the last five calendar years: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

    Please provide the information in spreadsheet format, such as CSV or Excel, if possible.

    1. Reports received

    The number of reports, complaints, referrals, or intelligence logs received by Trading Standards relating to fake, counterfeit, unsafe, or non-compliant toys.

    2. Items seized

    The number of toys or toy products seized by Trading Standards in relation to suspected counterfeit, fake, unsafe, or non-compliant goods.

    3. Breakdown by toy type

    Where recorded, please provide a breakdown of the reported and/or seized toys by type or category.

    4. Reason for report or seizure

    Where recorded, please provide a brief breakdown or commentary on the main reasons for reports, investigations, or seizures.

    Published: 3 June 2026

  7. Minutes of any Council Deliberations Imposing a Council Tax Premium on Second Home Owners

    What I am requesting are the minutes of any council deliberations concerning the wider issues, rather than the purely financial benefits, of imposing a council tax premium on second home owners.

    Some of these wider issues, as outlined in the requirements published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on November 1st 2024 are:

    •         numbers and proportion of long-term empty dwellings and/or second homes in the local area

    •         circumstances which may affect whether the dwelling can be used as a main residence

    •         potential impact on local economies and the tourism industry

    •         potential impact on the local community

    •         potential impact on local services

    •         other measures that are available to councils to help bring empty dwellings back into use

    •         on average, how long dwellings in their area are available for sale or rent before completion/occupation

    •         the average price/rent in the local area

    Published: 3 June 2026

  8. Freedom of Information request - Hereford Bypass Phase 1 Value Engineering

    In this disclosure - EIR2026 00821 reference is made to the following: 1. A 'Value Engineering Opportunities Register', 2. A Value Engineering Decision workshop held on 1 April 2026, and 3. A meeting to be scheduled in April between Herefordshire Council Planning and GRAHAM. I request disclosure of the most up to date Register and any written records pertaining to the decision workshop and to the meeting between Planning and GRAHAM.

    Published: 2 June 2026

  9. Current Premises Licence Register

    Under section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request a copy of Herefordshire Council's premises licence register as currently held under the Licensing Act 2003.

    I would be grateful if the data could be provided in a machine-readable format (CSV, XLSX, or JSON in preference to PDF). For each licensed premises currently in force, the fields I am requesting are:

      1. Premises name and any trading name
      2. Full address including postcode
      3. Licence number / reference
      4. Date the current licence was issued / start date
      5. Licensable activities permitted
      6. Permitted hours (where summarised in your register)
      7. Current designated premises supervisor (DPS), where applicable
      8. Current licence holder

    I am happy to receive the data via email attachment, or via a download link if that is more practical. Please confirm receipt of this request.

    If any part of this request is unclear, or if a partial response would require fee approval, I would welcome the opportunity to refine the scope rather than receive a refusal.

    Published: 2 June 2026

  10. Certificates of Sponsorship

    I wish to make an FOI request and would be grateful if you could tell me the following:

    The numbers of certificates of sponsorship awarded by your organisation for the years 2021 - 2025 (inclusive) - if possible, please can I have this broken down by in-country and entry visa sponsorship.

    If possible, the number of these CoS which resulted in visa issuance. Although I understand this may not

    Published: 2 June 2026