Before you go hurtling to the council, police and local schools and hospitals with your requests for information, get an idea of what they are already publishing from their publication schedules:

Before you go hurtling to the council, police and local schools and hospitals with your requests for information, get an idea of what they are already publishing from their publication schedules:

Camden Council

Barnet Council

Met Police

(including borough-level documents)

Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT)

Camden PCT

Islington PCT

After that, why not find out how much the council is paying contractors to clean your street and collect your rubbish? You could ask the council about the nutritional content of meals served in your child's school.

Perhaps there has been an MRSA scare at a hospital you have been to? You can now find out what the latest developments are, and what action the hospital is taking to clear it up.

Peeved at the number of parking tickets you're getting? Why not ask the company employed to hand out penalty charges what its targets are - and whether it's likely to hit them.

Councillors and council employees should be open about how much they get paid (from our taxes), shouldn't they? Now they have to be open with you about their salaries, pay rises and bonuses.

Do you feel hard donbe-by over any planning permissions, phone masts or new developments? Now the council has to lay open to you all the considerations it made in awarding the rights to erect masts, buildings... everything, in fact.