JMR/FOI/Carruthers

Joanna Rawsterne

0115 977 3096

0115 977 3886

[email address]

23 September 2008

Mr S H Carruthers

By email to: [FOI #2159 email]

Dear Mr Carruthers

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Your request for information has been considered and I can now respond as follows.

We are not able to provide a breakdown of time spent on Members' activities as their time is not monitored. Serving as a councillor is not employment; it is a public duty. The breakdown suggested does not represent an adequate description of the Member's role, which includes:

These areas are covered by their allowances. Allowances are paid to reflect work on County Council business and we do not pay allowances for "acting for the political parties they represent".

The total allowances (including basic allowance, special responsibility allowance, travel and subsistence) for the last three years were as follows:

Since 2005, there have been 67 seats on the County Council. The number of actual members has varied. There was an election in May 2005 with a number of seats changing hands at the election (members retiring or being defeated at the election). Similarly, there have been a number of by-elections since 2005. This means that a total allowance has been split between two individuals.

The total number of individuals receiving an allowance in each year is:

Members are not directly involved in resolving formal complaints against Council staff as officers undertake this role. However, as part of our corporate formal complaints three-stage process, the final stage is a Complaints Review Panel, which allows the complainant the opportunity to present their case to a panel of Members. After hearing all the relevant information from the complainant and the departmental representative, the Panel Members make a decision on whether they wish to make any recommendations to the service area. These are not binding, as it is then up to the Service Managers to review the decision and either implement the recommendations or not.

In terms of how many complaints were submitted to the Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, please see the table below:

You have also asked how many complaints against Council staff led to the elected representatives formally identifying that they had acted wrongly. The complaints process relates to the delivery, or otherwise, of service. The Council has separate procedures for dealing with staff related matters such as disciplinary procedures. As such, no employment has been terminated because of a complaint.

The total amount of payments made as a result of the Local Government Ombudsman's intervention is shown in the above table and all payments were made from the departmental budget of the service area in question. Once recommendations are received by the Local Government Ombudsman, they are always implemented.

As part of your request, you have asked for details on the financial cost of administering our complaints systems. We do not have this information as we do not record separate administrative costs. There is a core team which handles complaints across the Council and there are other staff at all levels of the organisation who deal with complaints when necessary so we cannot determine the exact number of staff involved or the associated costs. You also asked us to provide details of the total number of employees for each of the years as shown below:

Please note that this excludes relief and casual staff.

In terms of the Chief Executive's salary, I can confirm that this is not performance related. The grade structure for this position is a single point so it attracts no incremental progression but annual salary increases were as follows:

Finally, I can confirm that the Council has complaints systems that are considered fit for purpose in terms of the recording, monitoring and management of the Council's complaints processes.

I hope I have been able to answer your request. If you have any queries or concerns then please contact me again.

Further Information about your rights is available from the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 
Telephone:   01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Joanna Rawsterne

Corporate Complaints Manager/FOI Practitioner

Chief Executive's Department