Council dragon attack plans - and other unusual information requests

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How a council might protect a town from a dragon attack is among the most unusual requests for information received by England and Wales councils.

One council was asked how many children were micro-chipped, while another was quizzed on whether it had paid for exorcisms on possessed pets.

They are among the Local Government Association's top 10 most unusual Freedom of Information requests.

The LGA said some were a "distraction" that could waste taxpayers' money.

The Freedom of Information Act was introduced in 2000 and allows the public the right to access recorded information held by public bodies.

But not every inquiry has an obvious public interest.

The top 10:

Councillor Peter Fleming, chairman of the LGA's improvement board, said councils put "a lot of time and effort" into ensuring legitimate requests were met with comprehensive responses.

"While the majority of requests to councils are for details of council policy and expenditure, some of the FoI requests received do not relate very closely to the services they are focused on providing every day of the year," he said.

"Councils are working very hard to keep local communities running as efficiently as possible during these challenging financial times and anything which distracts from that can affect the value for money that taxpayers receive."

The LGA represents more than 350 councils in England and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh LGA.