More common than you might think (FOI, that is)

One in ten people have used FOI

Previous estimates on what proportion of the UK population has submitted a Freedom of Information request appears to have set the number far too low — and it's not just our own polling that says so.

See the context for these figures, and how we support citizens accessing their Right to Know, in this post, where you'll also find a link to the underlying data.

Tell the ICO how to prioritise complaints

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is currently consulting on how to prioritise complaints about FOI requests,  where authorities are failing to uphold their duties under the Act.

With more complaints than they can easily manage, they're seeking input on their proposed solutions. You can read our response, and find out how to submit your own, here.

This one means a lot

This just in: we were so delighted to win the 'Outstanding contribution to democratic change' category at last night's Democracy Awards from the Democracy Network. Recognition is always nice, but when it comes from your peers in the sector, it is particularly welcome.

Innovations in Climate Tech:

here are the projects we're funding

A kitchen garden in Kent, experiments into the placement of ground source heat pumps for 'difficult' dwellings, and an online database of councils' climate adaptation case studies: those are the three projects we picked from a long list of excellent contenders for our Innovations In Climate Tech small grants.

Meet all three grantees and find out more about their projects in our blog post.

CAPE is helping councils to compare best practice

One of the reasons we made CAPE, our database of council climate action plans, was to make it easier for councils to see what their peers are doing, and learn from each other.

So we were delighted to hear from one council officer who has used it in exactly that way — you can read their story here.

It's that time of the year again

We're busy putting together our Annual Review with its look back at everything we've done this year — so expect an extra email from us this month.

What we're consuming

• Martha Lane Fox says the UK tech industry still has a gender balance problem.
• If your parish council operates from a quirky little URL, you might want to show them this.
• Confused by Mastodon, the much-suggested platform for those fleeing Twitter? Open Rights Group provided the most helpful advice we've seen yet (video).
• Are car-free cities a gendered issue? This discussion might just persuade you that the answer's 'yes' (podcast).
• We always enjoy a real-time Twitter travel thread. Follow along to discover: how many nations can be visited on public transport within 24 hours?

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