Your YEP campaigns to uncover the truth

Our journalists dedicate their time to getting to the heart of the issues that matter the most to you.

And this week we have helped to claim a victory which enables us to continue exposing the answers YOU deserve about the city where YOU live.

The Government has announced there will be no legal changes to the Freedom of Information Act after a lengthy review.

Campaigners, politicians, journalists and media organisations regarded the review of FoI legislation with deep suspicion, concerned the Government wanted to curtail a law that allowed them to reveal embarrassing facts about its failings.

However, after a significant lobbying campaign the Government has concluded the legislation is “working well”.

The YEP has used the legislation to conduct a number of investigations on behalf of its readers. We discovered more than 1,600 people had been on the waiting list for a council home in Leeds for a decade or longer. We revealed the detail behind the collapse of a Leeds City Council deal to buy Leeds United’s Thorp Arch training complex from a private owner.

And we revealed the shocking scale of pest problems in city hospitals - discovering that pest control officers had been summoned to hospitals in Leeds 771 times in two and a half years.

YEP editor Nicola Furbisher said: “Your YEP has held a long-established crusading stance on behalf of our readers and the city of Leeds.

“ This victory means that our journalists can continue investigating and exposing the issues that matter most to the communities where you live. Our findings will continue to be showcased as part of our Right To Know campaign.”