Dear Mr Nun

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000 - FOIA544

Thank you for your recent request which has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). You requested the following information:

During the last five years how many times has the Local Government Ombudsman (as a result of investigating a complaint against Scarborough Borough Council) brought to the attention of the council the fact that a member of Scarborough Borough Council staff had misled them, lied to them or done anything else to hinder their investigation. If they have what disciplinary action was taken against the individual(s) concerned by the Council.

Over the past five years there have been 204 complaints made to the Ombudsman about Council Services. Of these only 3 complaints were pursued by the Ombudsman to investigation stage. I can confirm that none of the three that were investigated (or for that matter the 201 not pursued) included any element of Council staff `misleading, lying or doing anything else to hinder the Ombudsman's investigation'.

Therefore there have been no staff disciplinary actions taken against individual members of staff as a consequence of such actions during an Ombudsman complaint.

I hope this satisfactorily answers your query, but if you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to Janet Deacon, Customer Services Manager, Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 2HG or email [email address].

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner's Office cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by Scarborough Borough Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: 01625 545745 Fax: 01625 524510 Web: www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Paul Hill

Service Transformation Manager