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.

Filters

Clear filters

  • Keywords filters

  • Year filters

  • Month filters

2,733 disclosures

  1. Monthly data on potholes from November 2021 to November 2025

    I'm writing to request some information about road maintenance under the Freedom of Information Act.

    1) Please provide the number of potholes filled in each month from November 2021 to November 2025. These should be the same figures you use to compile the annual ‘Potholes Repaired’ numbers for the Local Highway Maintenance and Transparency Reports but broken down per month.

    Please add in information about whether the methodology for how you collect these figures has changed.

    2) Please provide also the number of potholes reported (both by the public and by your own inspectors) in each month from November 2021 to November 2025.

    Please add in information about whether the methodology for how you collect these figures changed at any point.


    Please provide such data in the format below, ideally as a spreadsheet.

    Potholes Filled In


                          2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
    January
    February
    March
    April
    May
    June
    July
    August
    September
    October
    November
    December

    Potholes Reported


                       2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
    January
    February
    March
    April
    May
    June
    July
    August
    September
    October
    November
    December

    Published: 15 December 2025

  2. Dedicated Schools Grants

    I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act: DSG deficits

    1. Please state the cumulative (i.e. multi-year not in-year) Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) net surplus or deficit position on 31st March 2024

    2. Please state the cumulative DSG net surplus or deficit position on 31st March 2025

    3. Please state the most recent forecast of the cumulative DSG net surplus or deficit position for 31st March 2026. Please state what month or quarter of the financial year this forecast is correct to.

    4. Please state the most recent forecast of the cumulative DSG net surplus or deficit position for 31st March 2028

    5. If the council is forecasting an in-year DSG deficit in 2025/26, what percentage of the council’s total DSG grant funding for 2025/26 is this in-year deficit equal to? For the purpose of this question, an in-year deficit should be measured relative to a balanced outturn, rather than being measured relative to any pre-planned in-year deficit.

    6. In what financial year is the cumulative DSG deficit currently forecast to be cleared? This question does not apply if there is both no deficit at present and no deficit forecast for future years

    7. If the council’s DSG reserve is currently in a cumulative deficit position, has the council estimated (or calculated) the annual direct or indirect cost to the council of carrying this deficit – and if so, what is that estimated/calculated annual cost? This cost may arise in a number of ways, potentially including (these are all real examples from councils):

    a. the direct cost of interest on borrowing to fund or effectively cover the DSG reserve deficit

    b. the deficit reducing the council’s ability extent to internally borrow from its working capital balances, thus forcing the council to borrow externally quicker than it otherwise would at high interest rates

    c. carrying a deficit means the council has access to less cash than it would otherwise, meaning the council effectively forgoes potential interest on investment, increasing pressure on the General Fund NMISS placement costs

    8. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, how many SEND children with council-funded EHCPs were placed in non-maintained independent special schools (NMISS) within the local authority area?

    9. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, what was the average cost to the council per child (i.e. unit cost] of funding a SEND child with a council-funded EHCP to go to an NMISS school within the local authority area (please use a forecast/estimate for 2025/26 if necessary)?

    10. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, how many SEND children with council-funded EHCPs were placed in non-maintained independent special schools (NMISS) outside the local authority area?

    11. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, what was the average cost to the council per child [i.e. unit cost] of funding a SEND child with a council-funded EHCP to go to an NMISS school outside the local authority area (please use a forecast/estimate for 2025/26 if necessary)?

    12. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, how many SEND children with council-funded EHCPs were placed in state-sector special schools?

    13. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, what was the average cost to the council per child (i.e. unit cost] of funding a SEND child with a council-funded EHCP to go to a state-sector special school (please use a forecast/estimate for 2025/26 if necessary)?

    14. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, how many SEND children with council-funded EHCPs were placed in mainstream state schools?

    15. For each academic year from 2022/23 to 2025/26 inclusive, what was the average cost to the council per child (i.e. unit cost] of funding a SEND child with a council-funded EHCP to go to a mainstream state school, factoring in both baseline funding and any top-ups (please use a forecast/estimate for 2025/26 if necessary)? Schools in deficit

    16. Please provide a list of maintained schools that registered a cumulative revenue deficit at the end of 2024/25

    17. Please provide a list of maintained schools that are forecast to register a cumulative revenue deficit at the end of 2025/26

    18. Please provide a list of maintained schools that are forecast to register a cumulative revenue deficit at the end of 2027/28

    19. Please provide a list of maintained schools that are forecast to register a cumulative revenue deficit three years in a row

    20. Please provide copies of the existing deficit reduction plans of maintained schools in the council area as agreed by the council

    Published: 12 December 2025

  3. Council Tax liabilities 2024/25

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following information relating to Council Tax liabilities for the financial year 2024/25.

    For clarity: this request refers to all Council Tax accounts where liability fell within the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, regardless of when the bill was issued.

    Please include all accounts where liability covered the whole financial year or any part of the financial year, including part-year tenancies and mid-year changes of liability.

    1. Council Tax enforcement actions
    a. Number of summonses issued for non-payment of council tax b. Number of Liability Orders granted by magistrates for non-payment of council tax c. Number of cases referred to enforcement agents (bailiffs) d. Number of enforcement letters issued by enforcement agents on behalf of the council e. Number of enforcement visits made by enforcement agents on behalf of the council

    2. Fees and charges
    a. The summons fee charged
    b. The Liability Order fee charged
    c. A breakdown of how these fees are calculated or determined

    3. Enforcement agent firms used
    a. The names of all enforcement agent companies used by the council for council tax collection, recovery, and enforcement during 2024/25

    (Please note: I am requesting only the names of the enforcement firms, not contract values or commercially sensitive information.)

    4. Households in receipt of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) a. Number of cases referred to enforcement agents where the household was in receipt of CTR b. Number of Liability Orders granted where the household was in receipt of CTR c. For Liability Orders involving households on CTR, a split by:

    Working-age households

    Pension-age households

    5. Attachment of Benefits and Attachment of Earnings a. Number of Attachment of Benefits (AoB) requests sent to DWP (e.g., UC or legacy benefits) b. Total value of the debt included in AoB requests (regardless of deductions taken) c. Number of Attachment of Earnings Orders (AoEOs) issued d. Total value of the debt included in AoEOs e. Number of households subject to AoEOs who were in receipt of CTR

    Published: 12 December 2025

  4. Civil orders for protest-related activity or public demonstrations between 01/10/2024 and 31/10/2025

    We are interested in understanding how Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs), Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBIs), and Dispersal Orders (all powers set out in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014) have been used by your authority in relation to protest-related activity or public demonstrations between the dates of 1 October 2024 and 31 October 2025.

    Specifically, please provide the following information, if available, regarding such orders:

    1. The number of ASBIs and Dispersal Orders issued for or enforced against protest-related or public demonstration activities from 1 October 2024 to 31 October 2025.

    2. The number of PSPOs imposed or breached in respect of protest-related or public demonstration activities between 1 October 2024 and 31 October 2025.

    3. The specific behaviours that justified issuing the PSPOs, ASBIs, and Dispersal Orders referred to in Q1 and Q2.

    4. The prohibitions and/or requirements that were imposed by the PSPOs, ASBIs, and Dispersal Orders referred to in Q1 and Q2.

    We have provided an Excel spreadsheet for you to input your answers if convenient.

    If you are unable to answer all parts of this FOI, please provide the information that you are able to within the statutory timescale.

    Published: 11 December 2025

  5. Fixed-period exclusions for technology-related misconduct for academic years 2019/2020 to 2023/2024

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I respectfully request the following specific data concerning fixed-period exclusions (suspensions) for all state-funded primary and secondary schools within your Local Authority's jurisdiction.

    This information is required to support a university assignment focusing on trends in technology-related misconduct in schools.

     

    Please provide the information in a clear, tabular format, ideally broken down by the requested academic year. If your internal recording categories do not perfectly match the two categories in Part 2, please provide the closest equivalent data available and explain any differences or necessary grouping in your response.



    Part 1: Total Suspensions Issued

    Please provide the total number of fixed-period exclusions (suspensions) issued during the full academic years:

      *   2019/2020
      *   2021/2022
      *   2023/2024

     


    Part 2: Technology-Related Suspensions

    For the same academic years (2019/2020, 2021/2022, and 2023/2024), please provide the number of these suspensions where the primary or secondary reason for exclusion was explicitly recorded as one of the following categories:

    1.  Inappropriate use of social media/online technology (e.g., cyberbullying, posting inappropriate content)

    2.  Use of a mobile phone/personal device in contravention of school rules

    Published: 11 December 2025

  6. Revenue expenditure and financing data - financial years 1999/2000 to 2006/2007

    My research focuses on the long-term impact of local spending on public services, such as police and education. I am thus interested in collecting information on local authorities’ revenue expenditure and financing data since the early 2000s.

    I am aware that these data are publicly available on the UK government website starting from the financial year 2007/08, but I would be interested in accessing data for earlier years.

    Specifically, under the FOI legislation, I seek local authorities’ revenue expenditure and financing data data broken down by standard categories (education, housing, police, roads, health services, etc.) for the period spanning the financial years 1999/2000 to 2006/2007.

    Ideally, I would like to access a data set organized in the same way as the publicly available data. If this was not possible, I would like to obtain a document containing the following columns:

    Name of the local authority;

    ONS statistical local authority identifier (preferability if it was the 2000 identifier, but either the 2011 or 2021 are also fine, but please, indicate which one you are using);

    Income available for educational services

    Expenditure made for educational services

    Same two columns (income and expenditure) for other budget items, such as housing, police, roads, social care, etc.

    One row per year.

    I thank you in advance for your help. Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

    Published: 11 December 2025

  7. HMO Licensing, Complaints and Enforcement Data (2018–2024)

    I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in your local authority area.

    Please provide the following data, if held, for each calendar year from 2018 to 2024 inclusive (or for as many of those years as you hold data).

    If a year-by-year breakdown cannot be produced within the statutory time or cost limits, please instead provide the total figure for the entire period (2018–2024).

    If possible, please provide the data in spreadsheet format (e.g. CSV or Excel).

    1) The number of HMO licence applications received.

    2) The number of HMO licence applications refused.

    3) The number of HMO licences revoked or suspended.

    4) The number of complaints received relating to HMOs.

    5) The number of inspections of HMOs carried out.

    6) The number of enforcement or improvement notices issued, or prosecutions brought, relating to HMOs.

    7) (If recorded) The number of unlicensed or illegal HMOs identified.

    Published: 11 December 2025

  8. Special Treatments and Special Treatment Bye-laws

    I would like to request the following information regarding Special Treatments and Special Treatment Bye-laws:

    1. What year did the authority first adopt Bye-laws for registerable special treatment activities?

    2. Have your Bye-laws been updated in line with the latest practices? e.g. single-use needles

    3. What year were your most recent Bye-laws enacted?

    4. On average, how many consumer complaints per year do you receive in relation to registerable special treatments?

    5. How many times per year does the authority prosecute in line with s16, Part VIII, of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982?

    Published: 11 December 2025

  9. Conservation team, or a similar team, typically consulted on planning applications

    Could I please make the following FOI request:

    1. Does Herefordshire Council have a conservation team or a similar team that is typically consulted on planning applications; and, if so, what the organisational structure is in relation to this – i.e., teams, departments, and so on.

    2. Details of training or qualifications prerequisite for any standard conservation officer.

    3. If it is disclosable, if I could please have email addresses for any teams, as I would like to send a short survey some time next summer for any officers who might be interested in completing it.

    Published: 10 December 2025

  10. Waste Partnership Details 2025

    Please may you provide the details of whom you contract to collect waste. This includes, but is not limited to, household waste (recycling, general waste, etc...) and commercial waste collected from businesses)

    - Please provide the commercial partners you currently use, with their registered addresses.

    - Please provide the commercial partners you have historically used, with their registered addresses. This data should begin in 2021 and finalise at the most recent period.

    - Please provide the commercial partners who currently operate the recycling centres across the borough - again, with their registered addresses.

    - Please inform me of any changes to partners in any part of the waste process in the previous year.

    Published: 10 December 2025