Any idea what links Roald Dahl and Lucian Freud? Or how many police and community officers have criminal records? What about the number of fake pound coins in circulation? And how much do you think it costs to re-stuff and recondition a 120-year-old boa constrictor?
The answers to all those questions were revealed in response to Freedom of Information requests made in the past 12 months.
The Freedom of Information Act gives individuals the right to ask a public authority for any official documents, for example, minutes of council meetings and details of public spending. The authority must then provide the information or explain why the information should not be disclosed. If a public authority refuses to release the information individuals can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Ministry of Justice figures revealed that 37,313 information requests were made to central government offices in the first three quarters of 2012, with many more made to local councils, NHS bodies, police forces and other public authorities.
And so, in the last year, we learnt that Roald Dahl and Lucian Freud both turned down the Queen's honours, that there were 900 officers with criminal records and 43,586,400 fake pound coins in circulation, and that it cost the Foreign Office £10,000 to carry out "essential maintenance" on Albert the snake.
Graham Smith, deputy commissioner at the ICO, said: "The access to information that the Freedom of Information Act gives us helps us to better understand what public authorities are doing in our name and with our money, something that's been proven in the information released over the past 12 months.
"We'd expect that 2013 will see even more information become available. Changes are being looked at to upgrade the Freedom of Information Act for the internet age. It means moving on from simply providing the public with information to looking at the way public authorities release it, for instance providing data in formats that make it easier to process and analyse, and giving licences for others to re-use information to benefit the public.
"They're exciting developments, and if the next year is anything like the last, we can expect to learn even more about how the country is run and how decisions about local services are made."
You can find out more about how to make a freedom of information request on the ICO website.
Details of information which has been released by public authorities in your area under the Freedom of Information Act:
South East
• Amount of gifts given to the Metropolitan police force by businesses
• The amount spent on a 'lion' hunt by Essex police
• The number of school fires started deliberately in Sussex
South West
• How much Bath Royal United Hospital took in parking fines.
• The number of stress-related absences at Gloucestershire Police
• The amount of asbestos found in Devon schools
• The number of crimes in Devon that went unsolved
North West
• The costs associated with the early retirement of the chief executive of Wirral Borough Council
• The media strategy of Greater Manchester Police in relation to the August riots
• The school that has the highest exclusion rate in England
North East
• Information relating to Holme Valley Parish Council claiming ownership of various plots of land, the majority of which used to be stone quarries
• The number of police officers who made no arrests in the year April 2011 to March 2012
• The number of bailiffs used by Sunderland City Council
East of England
• The number of thefts from museums across the region
• The number of speeding motorists recorded by volunteers in Suffolk
• The number of nights Lowestoft's Bascule Bridge has been closed in five years
• The amount owed to Suffolk councils in unpaid parking fines
Midlands
• The cost of maintaining empty council buildings in Worcestershire
• The amount paid out by Northamptonshire Council for injury claims
• The number of West Midlands police injured in fire-arms incidents
• The number of times one learner driver has failed their driver theory test
Wales
• The reduction of available hospital beds in Wales, and the amount that NHS Wales has paid out due to medical negligence
• The number of dog fouling fines issued by Blaenau Gwent
• The most popular website visited by South Wales council staff
Northern Ireland
• Information relating to Western Health and Social Care Trust's responding to urgent calls by taxi as no ambulances were available
• Areas of Northern Ireland where homes are most likely to be at risk from Radon
• The number of schools in NI that still contain asbestos
Content on this page is provided by ICO – supporter of the citizenship hub.
.jpg?w=600)
