Over the summer of 2008, all 32 London Boroughs and the City of London were asked to supply details under the Freedom of Information Act of any restrictions they place on the use of social networking websites by their employees.

The survey revealed that a majority of authorities now ban staff from accessing sites such as Facebook and MySpace, while others place severe restrictions on the practice. Only a small minority claim to place no restrictions on the sites.

A summary of responses is shown below. Boroughs excluded from the list have produced no response to the request within the statutory time limit.

City of London
Access blocked, except for a few employees with legitimate work reasons to use sites.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
No access during working hours.

London Borough of Bexley
Access blocked.

London Borough of Brent
Access blocked.

London Borough of Bromley
Access allowed, within reasonable usage guidelines.

London Borough of Camden
Staff banned from sites during working hours.

London Borough of Croydon
Access allowed, but only outside working hours.

London Borough of Ealing
Access blocked.

London Borough of Hackney
Access blocked unless staff can demonstrate a legitimate business need.

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
Access allowed, but only outside working hours.

London Borough of Haringey
Access blocked.

London Borough of Havering
Access blocked.

London Borough of Islington
Access allowed, but only outside working hours.

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
Access allowed.

Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames
Access allowed, although a requirement for all web surfing to be work-related.

London Borough of Lambeth
Technical solution to block the sites due to be implemented in coming months.

London Borough of Lewisham
Access allowed.

London Borough of Newham
Access allowed, outside normal working hours.

London Borough of Redbridge
Access allowed, but only outside core working hours.

London Borough of Richmond
Access blocked.

London Borough of Southwark
Access blocked, although granted to individuals where a legitimate case can be made.

London Borough of Sutton
Access allowed, although staff must have a legitimate business purpose.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Access not permitted, unless it supports the business of the council.

London Borough of Waltham Forest
Access not permitted.

London Borough of Wandsworth
Access blocked, but privileges granted to staff with legitimate business case (eg. the promotion of leisure events).

Westminster City Council
Access blocked.