Have your say

on Information services

This leaflet outlines Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's Freedom of Information feedback policy.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is committed to providing you with good and fair services. We want to listen, involve and respond to the needs of local people.

This leaflet sets out how the Council intends to do this by making use of your complaints, suggestions, comments and compliments.

Our aims

We want to:

• make it easy for people to contact the Council and give us their views

• ensure that when contact is made issues are dealt with quickly and consistently

• help create equality of access to the Council

• improve the Council 's Access to Information services.

Comments &Suggestions

The Council also welcomes any comments or suggestions that you would like to make on our service. We encourage people to do this as it helps us to identify where services may need to be improved. Again, you can contact the service directly if you wish to do this or use the form attached to set out your comments &suggestions in writing.

Compliments

We also want you to tell us if you think we have done something right. If you have received a particularly good service or you like the way that we deliver our information please tell us. We are keen to learn lessons from any response which you feel is not of a high standard.

The attached form will allow you to give us feedback in writing if you choose to do this.

A full copy of the Customer Feedback Policy is available on the Council website. Alternatively, a full copy is available on request by contacting the Council.

Making a complaint

If you aren't happy with a service that you have (or haven't) received from the Information Unit then we want to know about it. You can make a complaint to the Council if:

• you think that it has done something in the wrong way

• done something it should not have done

• failed to do something it should have done.

Examples are unreasonable delay, poor treatment, or failure to follow proper procedures.

What shall I do if I am unhappy with a service?

We will always try to deal with the problem as quickly as possible and to do this we would ask you to contact the Information Management unit. They may be able to put things right there and then or at least look into the issue and come back to you.

If you have tried this approach or don't feel that it is appropriate you can ask for your complaint to be investigated formally.

This involves your complaint being passed to a complaints co-ordinator for the department concerned. They will ensure that a full investigation takes place and the director of the service (or their representative) will give you a full response to your complaint. All complaints are treated in the strictest of confidence.

When making a complaint you should provide as much information as possible. You can use the form that is attached to the back of this leaflet to help set out what your complaint is and what you would like us to do about it. Alternatively you can contact the Council by telephone or send us a letter or an e- mail. You may also want to ask someone to contact us on your behalf, this could be a friend or a relative or another person that you would like to choose to represent you.

We aim to acknowledge any complaints we receive within 3 working days and you should receive a full response to your complaint within 15 working days. If the complaint takes longer to investigate we will keep you informed.

What If I am still unhappy?

If after you have received your response you remain dissatisfied you can request that your complaint goes for review. A review may involve a meeting with the Chief Executive and a Councillor to help resolve the problem. Sometimes it won 't be appropriate for a complaint to be considered again, for example if the decision has been made due to legal reasons. If this is the case we will contact you to let you know.

If your complaint progresses to an appeal stage then we should acknowledge your request within 3 working days and it should be carried out within 25 working days. Sometimes this may take longer if cases are complicated but we will keep you informed.

And if I still remain dissatisfied?

Hopefully we will be able to resolve your problem quickly but if you remain dissatisfied you can go to the Information Commissioner who can carry out an independent investigation.

The address for the Commissioner is:

Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

If you would like this leaflet in any other language or format, please contact us on (01254) 585585

customer feedback form

I would like to make a:

Please give us some information about yourself

Monitoring our Equal Opportunities Policy

We want to make sure that our services are fair and accessible to everyone. The following information helps us to check that this is the case. You don't have to fill in this part of the form and it will not affect your complaint in anyway.

Are You:

Which age group are you:

What is your ethnic background:

Please return this form to: Information Manager, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Customer Services Department, Town Hall Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 7DY

OR hand the form in at any Council Office.