AIR 1669 RESPONSE
1)
I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:
1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents;
2 sitting on committee's;
3 acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);
This information is not held by the London Borough of Havering
2)
I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.
Response from Finance & Commerce
Please refer to attachments:
Members
allowances
05/06
Members
allowances
06/07
Members
allowances
07/08
3)
I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.
Response from Customer Services
Year 2005/06 = 179
Year 2006/07 = 301
Year 2007/08 = 539
4)
(a) I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and how many of these formal
determinations by the elected representatives identify that there was no
wrong-doing by the Executive
.,
Response from Legal & Democratic Services
2005/06 = 11
2006/07 = 9
2007/08 = 4
N.B Only if a complainant remains dissatisfied with the Council’s response
does it go to a hearing.
(b) How many staff employed by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007
and 2007/2008 ceased to be employed by your authority as a direct result
of a complaint against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to
be the case.
5)
I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.
Response from Customer Services
Nil
6)
I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding
self insurance by a Council)
Response from Legal & Democratic Services
Costs would be met by Council resources.
In 2005/06 a total of £725 was paid as part of the local settlement of cases
In 2006/07 a total of £29,800 was paid
In 2007/08 a total of £11,370 was paid
All Local Government Ombudsmen recommendations implemented.
7)
Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.
Response from Legal & Democratic Services
Complaints Handling – Democratic Services, although not a front line
service, is involved as part of its normal day to day activity in dealing with
complaints in a number of ways – staff of the Service deal with:
a) The Local Government Ombudsman, as a contact point for all LGO
enquiries on behalf of the Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer.
b) Hearing Panels for those complaints that have not been resolved by
staff.
c) Initial enquiries by members of the public who wish to pursue
complaints and are not sure to whom to turn.
d) Enquiries by Members on behalf of constituents.
In addition, there are from time to time complaints arising from other
activities of the service that are dealt with by staff as part of the Council’s
Complaints procedure.
The service does not account for its staff time on an activity-by-activity basis
and so these various activities, as part of the Service’s mainstream
activities, are not accounted for separately.
It is however estimated that overall, staff in the Service’s management and
in Committee and Overview & Scrutiny Support (15 staff) collectively spend
approximately 7.5% of their time on complaint related activity. This amounts
to a cost (including accommodation and other ‘on costs’) in 2008/09 of about
£50,000.
Staff in Member and Cabinet Support (10 staff) provide direct support to
Councillors in dealing with constituents’ enquiries, which will include
complaints, but no division of their time is recorded.
Response from Finance & Commerce
Total payroll costs for 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 are attached
Total staff in the authority:
05-06 – 7,446
06/07 – 7,508
07/08 – 7,114
Pay increases to CE:
The council does not have a performance related pay scheme for chief
officers. Salary increases are based on the agreements reached by the
Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers. These are:
2005/06 - 2.95%
2006/07 - 2.95%
2007/08 - 2.475%
The current Chief executive was appointed in March 2007 on a salary of
£160,000.
Response from Customer Services
Customer Relations (Corporate Complaints) = 1 Dedicated member of staff
and another that assists in addition to her regular duties = 1.17 FTE at a
cost of;
05/06 £37,190
06/07 £41,440
07/08 £44,130
There are no other dedicated staff who deal with complaints within
Customer Services and no information held on time spent for staff who deal
with complaints in addition to their main roles.
8)
If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.
N/A
If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.
N/A
