8 August 2008

Mr S Hardwicke Carruthers

Via email ([FOI #1454 email])

Our ref: CS/08/0033/HJP

(Please quote our reference when contacting us)

If telephoning contact Hilary Pook on 020 7217 4734

or if using email send to: [email address]

Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

Request for information

In your email of 26 July you asked if Anne Seex held a senior position at Lancaster City Council prior to becoming an Ombudsman. Immediately before she became Ombudsman, Anne Seex was Chief Executive of Norwich City Council for five years. Before that, she had been Director of Community Services at Lancaster City Council for four years. This information is published in our Annual Report.

You asked for all documentation identifying if an LGO should act as LGO for a council where they have been employed and “documentation identifying that grounds of probity, merit and independence that an LGO should be appointed to provide services to a council where they have had links.” I'm afraid the wording in quotation marks doesn't make sense to me, but I can confirm that all the documentation relating to an LGO's prior employment with a council, or other links with a council, is contained in the Commission Members Code of Conduct that you have already been sent by the OPHSO; and in the Local Government Act 1974, as amended by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. (Acts of Parliament are readily available by other means, and are therefore exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, section 21.)

You also asked to be informed of the councils all three Ombudsmen have identified as ones they should not deal with because of personal links, and any associated documentation. You have asked for copies of the register of interests separately, and the authorities mentioned there as ones where the Ombudsmen have previously been employed are included here.

/…

Tony Redmond

LB Harrow  - previously Chief Executive

West London Waste Authority - previously their Treasurer

LB Tower Hamlets - a personal connection that has since lapsed

LB Greenwich - a personal connection

LB Bexley - a personal connection

Jerry White

LB Hackney - previously Chief Executive

LB Haringey - previously employed

LB Islington - previously employed

City of Birmingham - His wife works for the council

City of Coventry - a personal connection

Anne Seex

Norwich City Council - previously Chief Executive

Manchester City Council - previously employed.

Lancaster City Council - previously employed

Trafford MBC - personal connection

Finally, you asked for documentation identifying that Anne Seex had “made the CLAE, the Secretary of State and their Department aware of her previous involvement with Lancaster City Council.” As mentioned at the beginning of this letter, the fact that Anne Seex previously worked for Lancaster City Council is published in her short biography that appears each year in the Commission's Annual Report. It is also included in her Register of Interests, which I will be supplying separately. No doubt she made the Government department (now the Department for Communities and Local Government) aware of her previous employment there as part of her application when she applied for the position of Local Government Ombudsman, but that is not information the Commission holds.

That concludes my response and I hope you find the information useful. If you feel I have not dealt properly with your request, you have the right to appeal and, should you wish to do so, I can supply a copy our internal complaints procedure. You also have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner to determine whether your request has been properly dealt with. You should note however that the Commissioner will not consider any complaint where you have not first exhausted our internal complaints process or where there has been undue delay in contacting him. You will be able to obtain further details of the Information Commissioner's role from the website on www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Hilary Pook (Ms)

Communications and Records Manager

Enc: Extract from Commission minutes September 2005

CLA 1104 5 Dec 2001, extract from Commission minutes 5 December 2001

Extract from Commission minutes 4 October 2001

LGO 01 (03/08)