Do they have to be in a certain format or will a typical letter just asking for info suffice?

http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/official_information

cheers chap

PLease consider before requesting:

More than 197,000 requests for information were made to councils in England and Wales this year. The local authorities spent £31.6 million responding.

The top 10 unusual FoIs received by councils in the past year are:

1 How does the council plan to help the brave soldiers of our infantry if and when Napoleon and his marauding hordes invade the district? (West Devon District Council)

2 What preparations has the council made for an emergency landing of Santa’s sleigh this Christmas? Who would be responsible for rescuing Santa? Who would be responsible for rounding up the reindeer, and who would have to tidy the crash site? (Cheltenham Borough Council)

3 How many drawing pins are in the building and what percentage are currently stuck in a pin board? (Hampshire County Council)

4 What preparations has the council made for a zombie attack? (Bristol City Council and Leicester City Council)

5 What plans are in place to deal with an alien invasion (Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service)

6 How many holes in privacy walls between toilet cubicles have been found in public lavatories and within council buildings? (Cornwall Council)

7 How does the council manage to cope with the vagaries of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle? How does it function given the inherent unpredictability? (Wealden District Council)

8 How much money has been paid to exorcists over the past 12 months? (Cornwall Council)

9 Provide details of uniforms worn by Civil Enforcement Officers including descriptions of embroidered logos and markings, as well as any difference between summer/winter wear. (Allerdale District Council)

10 What is the total number of cheques issued by the council in the past year, and how many did it receive? (Scarborough Borough Council)

Source

😉

I remember reading about that zombie one at the time. The council responded.

Ah, here.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/07/when-zombies-attack-bristol-city-council-undead-invasion

Peter Holt, service director of communication and marketing, wrote back to Store: “In response to your request for details of Bristol city council’s contingency plans for dealing with zombies, I can now release to you the following strategy document.

“Please note that this document contains various redactions as it has been considered that some information contained therein must be redacted for the purpose of safeguarding national security.”

Marked top secret, the document, which has been published on the whatdotheyknow.com site, sets out four alert states:

• Ambient zombie level – business as usual, but be on the lookout for telltale signs.

• Enhanced activity level – confirmed zombie attacks on the populous.

• Major outbreak – zombie infection level in excess of 1%, multiple sightings across the city.

• Zombie pandemic level – concentrated outbreak, with infection levels over 30%.

The report suggests certain parts of the city – Whitchurch Park, Shirehampton, and Totterdown – are particularly at risk and adds that “false positives have been found in Stokes Croft”, the city’s bohemian quarter that was the scene of riots this year after the opening of a new Tesco store.

To avoid “widespread panic” staff are asked to listen for codewords on radio and television broadcasts to warn them that a zombie attack is under way.

Under health and safety the document urges staff to remember the correct zombie-killing procedure: “Fully disconnect the brain-stem from the body through either blunt force or full head removal.”

In the procurement section the document claims “cuffs, stun guns, protection suits etc” are available on the staff intranet.

An annual training schedule for designated officers is in place, the document reveals. “To avoid public panic, this is billed as a gaming festival,” the report says and adds that staff “fully qualified in zombie handling may qualify for partial exemption and accreditation in the training for handling pirate outbreaks and for spotting the difference between genuine hot air balloons and evil, giant, floaty space aliens.”

Best one I heard if was “the amount spent on Ferrero Rocher chocolates by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office” 🙂

I just write a letter. Cumbria police want it formatted on one of their forms, the local councils don’t. My parish council are corrupt and they do not comply with the act , leaving out extremely relevant documents that implicate them in malfeasance. Trouble is….. The system is not really interested in combating corruption, so while you may discover the truth, or you may get blanked, nothing will be done about it either way. You should keep trying tho!

Doesn’t even need to be a letter, can submit them here

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

What do you want to ask them?

PLease consider before requesting:

This.

We’ve better things to do.

Do it through https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

You can search other folks requests too, so you might find what you’re looking for without needing to submit a request.

Just be nice, and try not to quote bits of the Act or tell people how to do their job 🙂 Even better, don’t cite bits of legislation that aren’t even true, like “14 days to respond to this request”!

Seriously, as long as you’re clear in what you’re asking for (e.g. date range, other parameters, etc) you should be fine.

I regularly deal with foi requests.

i would strongly recommend thinking about what you hope to gain from the request. Be precise in the question you’re asking. Time after time i have to respond to foi’s that will not help the requester gain what they think or hope they’ll get.

It’s fantastic use of NHS resources in my experience. Who wants nurses when you can have FOI officers?

Go on OP what do you want to know?