So, today I sent out the first requests for data. I decided that using WhatDoTheyKnow would give me the best method of tracking the requests. I started going through the big list of councils that administer Housing Benefits (taken from a DWP document giving their average times to deal with claims).
Pretty soon I hit a minor snag. WhatDoTheyKnow only lets you send 10 Freedom of Information Requests per day. You can ask them to increase this number if you feel that you have a good case to do so, and I'm considering doing this. I don't feel that my requests are vexatious, and as far as I know, this information isn't gathered centrally. Even if it is, I may well get data that goes further back by requesting it from the council directly. I think that I'll hold off asking them until I've got the information back from the first responses, to see if anything in my letter needs tweaking. I don't think that it does, but then again, I would think that, wouldn't I!
I've created a google docs spreadsheet to keep track of the requests that I make, and when I get responses to them. I'll keep updating this as I go along. I'm still pondering how to deal with the data that I get back.
Pretty soon I hit a minor snag. WhatDoTheyKnow only lets you send 10 Freedom of Information Requests per day. You can ask them to increase this number if you feel that you have a good case to do so, and I'm considering doing this. I don't feel that my requests are vexatious, and as far as I know, this information isn't gathered centrally. Even if it is, I may well get data that goes further back by requesting it from the council directly. I think that I'll hold off asking them until I've got the information back from the first responses, to see if anything in my letter needs tweaking. I don't think that it does, but then again, I would think that, wouldn't I!
I've created a google docs spreadsheet to keep track of the requests that I make, and when I get responses to them. I'll keep updating this as I go along. I'm still pondering how to deal with the data that I get back.
No comments:
Post a Comment