From
Amy Phillips, Departmental Information Guardian
County Hall, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1UD.
Tel
(01983) 823693
Fax
(01983) 823123
Email
[email address] DX
56361 Newport (Isle of Wight)
Web
www.iwight.com
Isle of Wight Chronicle
14 July 2010
Dear Sir/Madam
Re:
Information Request CRM Ref. iw10-6-28603
Thank you for your information request dated 17 June 2010.
Please find below the information you have requested.
How many other people from the island have been 'blacklisted' or 'blocked' from contacting the
council or Council staff via email since 2005?
In a minority of cases the Isle of Wight Council restricts access to services in relation to members of the
public making complaints and allows contact with one central point by applying the Complaints Policy-
Habitual or Vexatious Complainants. This central point will filter all further complainants’ correspondence
and distribute to services, as appropriate (i.e. a new issue that has not been previously addressed). It is not
current policy to totally ‘block’ contact with the council.
The decision to apply restrictions is not taken lightly but after careful consideration of complainant’s
behaviour and the affect this has on council officers and/or service delivery.
Complainants (and/or anyone acting on their behalf) may be deemed to be habitual or vexatious where
previous or current contact with them shows that they meet one or more of the following criteria.
Where complainants:
a) Refuse to specify the grounds of a complaint, despite offers of assistance with this from Council Staff
b) Persist in pursuing a complaint where the Council’s complaints process has been fully and properly
implemented and exhausted.
c) Refuse to co-operate with the complaints investigation process or insist on the complaint being dealt with
in ways which are incompatible with the adopted complaints policy, procedure or good practice.
d) Make groundless complaints about employees dealing with the complaints or attempting to use the
complaints procedure to pursue a personal vendetta against an employee or team
e) Make unreasonable complaints which impose a significant burden on resources of the Council and where
the complaint:
• Clearly does not have any serious purpose or value,
• Is designed to cause disruption or annoyance; or
• Has the effect of harassing the public authority; or
• Is frequent, lengthy, complicated and stressful for staff
• Presents contradictory information or views
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Cont …
• Can otherwise fairly be characterised as obsessive or manifestly unreasonable
f) Refuse to accept information for no apparent good reason
g) Introduce trivial or irrelevant new information or raise large numbers of detailed but unimportant questions
and insisting they are fully answered
h) Lodge numbers of complaints in batches over a period of time, resulting in related complaints being at
different stages of the complaints procedure
i) Pursue a complaint or complaints with the Council and at the same time with several of the following; a
Member of Parliament, a councillor, the authority’s independent auditor, the Ethical Standards Committee,
the police or the Local Government Ombudsman in a “scatter gun” approach
j) Present the same issues repeatedly but never accept the explanation or outcomes. This can take the form
of excessive phone calls, visits or written communications
k) Display aggressive behaviour towards staff or members which may be expressed in verbal abuse or
threatening, threatened or actual physical harm
l) Approach different staff members repeatedly about the same issues
In response to your question:
In 2005 the policy was applied to 1 complainant and the restriction lifted after 11 months
From 2007- 2009 – 4 complainants have had restrictions applied
From 1 January 2010 to now 1 complainant has had restrictions applied therefore we currently have a total
of 5 complainants with restrictions to access to Isle of Wight Council services.
What law gives you the right to block a member of public in your constituency from communicating
with you electronically?
As explained above correspondence is not blocked electronically as complainants are able to direct their
complaint to a nominated central point of contact, in writing this can be either electronically, by fax or letter.
These restrictions are applied under council policy.
The Council continues to discharge its duties under the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act and
Environmental Information Regulations in relation to any person that has restricted contact with the council.
I hope this information satisfies your request.
Please contact me again if you require any further assistance on this matter and I will do my best to provide
relevant help and advice.
Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests will be
subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by the Isle of Wight Council. The
copyright in other information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated on the
information itself.
You are free to use any information supplied for your own non-commercial, research, or private study
purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation, or exception, in
copyright law, such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the
information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will require the permission of the copyright
owner.
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Cont …
For information where the copyright is owned by the Council, details of the conditions on re-use can be
found on our website at www.iwight.com/foi.
For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation you must apply to the
copyright owner to obtain their permission.
If you have any complaints in respect of your information request, please write to the Corporate Information
Unit at the above address, or complete the on-line appeals form that can be found at
www.iwight.com/information. If your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the
ultimate right, once you have exhausted the internal appeals process, to appeal to the Information
Commissioner.
Yours sincerely
Amy Phillips
Departmental Information Guardian
