The Mail Online report:

Councils are using millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to hire private detectives for  snooping operations.

Dozens of town halls, several quangos and even one central government department used the investigators to check on both members of the public and their own staff.

Officials spent nearly £4million in two years on covert surveillance, background checks and other intrusive investigations by private eyes.

You can read the full story here.

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.