29 September 2008

Mr S Hardwicke Carruthers

Via email (request-2837-7954d557@whatdotheyknow.com)

Our ref: CS/08/0056/HJP

(Please quote our reference when contacting us)

If telephoning contact Hilary Pook on 020 7217 4734

of if using email send to: [email address]

Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

Request for information

In your email of 4 September, you suggested that a report had gone to a Committee of South Oxfordshire Council in relation to a complaint dealt with by the Local Government Ombudsman which said the Ombudsman had recommended that members of the council were informed of the complaint and the Ombudsman's view on it. You then went on to ask how many times, in the last six years, when agreeing a local settlement had the Ombudsmen recommended that members should be informed.

I have not been able to identify the specific case you refer to, but if this information were recorded, it would only be on the paper complaint file, or as text on our computer database. To find this information I would have to search through in the region of 17-18,000 records. Under the Freedom of Information Act there is a limit on the amount of time an authority is obliged to spend in dealing with an information request. This is currently set at £450 which is equivalent to 18 hours of officer time. The amount of work involved in meeting your request would clearly cost more than this cost limit. Therefore I am unable to provide the information you request.

That concludes my response. 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 of 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.org.uk.

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Yours sincerely

Hilary Pook (Ms)

Communications and Records Manager

LGO 01 (03/08)