3 March 2009

Mr S Hardwicke Carruthers

Via email ([FOI #7818 email])

Our ref: CS/09/016/HJP

(Please quote our reference when contacting us)

If telephoning contact Hilary Pook on 020 7217 4734

or if using email send to: [email address]

Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

Request for information

In your email of 8 February, you asked for a copy of the rights a complainant has to complaint about a council under the procedure established by the LGO.

The rights of a complainant to complaint is not “a procedure established by the LGO”; those rights are set down in the Local Government Act 1974 as amended - see section 26A. So this is information that is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act s.21 as it is readily accessible by other means.

You also asked for the date when the LGO first “codified the processes”, and the dates when these were changed. Similarly, the LGO did not codify these processes - you would need to refer to any amendments of that section of the Local Government Act, for example, the changes introduced by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

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 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.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Hilary Pook

Hilary Pook (Ms)

Communications and Records Manager

LGO 01 (03/08)