Bullying and

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sir or Madam

I would like to know how many employees of the city council have
been absent from work due to either stress, anxiety, depression or
any combination of those ailments between 1st Spetember 2004 and 31st October 2008.

Please also confirm how many complaints of bullying have been made
by employees of the council against managers or colleagues during the same period.

Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive
dismissal within the same period for bullying/harassment.

Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the city council at the Employment Tribunal within the same period for bullying/harassment.

I would ask that you remember the statutory duty imposed upon public authorities by virtue of Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act to provide advice and assistance to requesters. If for any reason you are leaning toward rejecting any part of this request or if you plan to argue that it is unmanageable or unanswerable in any way then I would expect you to contact me promptly to find ways to answer this request to our mutual satisfaction.

Yours faithfully

Vicky Gray

Freedom of Information, City of Edinburgh Council

Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will get
back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,

Customer Services.

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information

I would also clarify when I mentioned constructive dismissal, I was referring to the employee directly, similar point about bullying and harassment complaints, there is no Employment Tribunal claim called "bullying and harassment". This will usually form part of a claim for unfair dismissal or one (or more) of the various discrimination claim and/or under the Protection from Harassment Act. Could you provide the information on the aforementioned.

Could you provide the information in electronic format via this website.

Thank you for your full co-operation

Yours Sincerely

Vicky Gray

Freedom of Information, City of Edinburgh Council

Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will get
back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,

Customer Services.

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information

You have not replied to my FOI request within the 20 working days you are allowed by law.

Kindly address yourselves to this matter immediately and explain your lack of response.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

Freedom of Information, City of Edinburgh Council

Thank you for your email. We are dealing with your enquiry and we will get
back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,

Customer Services.

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this
email.

show quoted sections

Chris Highcock, City of Edinburgh Council

Ms Gray

Request for a Review of the Handling of FOI Request 2123
I write further to your email dated 8 January requesting a review of the
handling of your FOI request ref 2123

Your request for review was received in this office on the 19 January and
we will endeavour to provide you with a response to your queries within 20
working days.

If you have further questions regarding how this review is being dealt
with, please contact me directly.

If after receiving a response from the Director of Corporate Services you
remain dissatisfied, you have six months within which you may ask the
Scottish Information Commissioner to conduct a review of our decision. You
can contact him at: Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS.

For further information on the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002,
please phone us on 0131 200 2340 or visit our Website at
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/foi.

show quoted sections

Chris Highcock, City of Edinburgh Council

Vicky Gray 03 February 2009

[FOI #4517 email] Your ref :

Our ref: FOI 2894

Dear Ms Gray

REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF RESPONSE TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 2123

You have requested a review of our response to your request for
information, our ref: 2123 made on 5^th December 2008.

I would first like to apologise for the delay in responding to your
initial request and I hope this has not caused you any inconvenience. The
delay resulted from a procedural failing caused by a major, ongoing
problem with the dedicated IT software used to log and track information
requests. This has now been resolved.

You originally requested the following information for the period 1^st
September 2004 to 31^st October 2008:

- the number of employees absent from work due to stress, anxiety
or depression;
- the number of complaints of bullying by managers or colleagues,
made by employees;
- the number of employees who have claimed constructive dismissal
as a result of bullying or harassment;
- the number of claims lodged with an employment tribunal based on
bullying or harassment.

Absence due to stress, anxiety and depression

The City of Edinburgh Council records sickness absence levels as number of
days lost, not in terms of the number of employees absent. As an employee
may be absent due to stress on several occasions separated by periods of
time in work the actual number of employees is not know and cannot be
calculated.

Complaints of bullying

The City of Edinburgh Council has formal policies on discipline, grievance
and fair treatment of staff. These policies are fully compliant with
existing employment legislation, ACAS guidelines and best practice as
described by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

In compliance with these policies complaints of bullying or harassment
will be dealt with at local level. The first stage of the procedure will
usually be informal counselling, the record of which will be disposed of
after 6 months. Where a case is serious and a disciplinary hearing
results, the record will be expunged within a maximum of 24 months. The
Council regards the aim of its policies in this area to be the speedy
resolution of issues as informally as possible, there is no corporate
reporting requirement to produce aggregate statistics on the number of
complaints raised, and consequently none exist.

The City of Edinburgh Council has approximately 22,000 employees. In order
to ascertain the number of complaints of bullying, it would be necessary
to contact approximately 4000 managers and obtain from them details of any
fair treatment interviews or counselling sessions they have been involved
with over the past 4 years. This cannot be done within the cost
constraints described in Section 12 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002.

The recorded information you have requested will either have been disposed
of in compliance with Council policy or is exempt from release due to
cost. I am therefore unable to supply any information in response to this
aspect of your request.

Claims of constructive dismissal & claims lodged with employment tribunals

This information cannot be ascertained without consulting large numbers of
files, and your request cannot be complied with within the cost
constraints described in Section 12 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002.

If after receiving this response you remain dissatisfied, you have six
months within which you may ask the Scottish Information Commissioner to
conduct a review of our decision. You can contact him at: Scottish
Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews,
Fife, KY16 9DS.

Thereafter you have the right to appeal the decision of the Scottish
Information Commissioner on a point of law to the Court of Session.

Yours sincerely

Jim Inch

Director of Corporate Services

City of Edinburgh Council

show quoted sections

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

Have reported them.

----- Original Message -----
From: xxxxxxx
To: xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 5:57 PM
Subject: FOISA Edinburgh Council

To Whom it may concern:

I made a request for information on 4 December 2008. I subsequently requested an internal review and am unhappy with the response.

The full history of the request and all responses are available online here: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bu...

I am mindful that Edinburgh Council have cited the ‘costs’ exemption, yet section 15 of FOISA imposes a duty to provide advice and assistance. Yet Edinburgh Council have not done so. Edinburgh Council have done nothing to assist me in seeking to find a way that would help me obtain the information I am requesting. Therefore, if the information exists, Edinburgh Council are required to disclose it unless an exemption applies. I am mindful that Edinburgh Council have cited the ‘costs’ exemption, yet section 15 of FOISA imposes a duty to provide advice and assistance. Edinburgh Council have not done so. Edinburgh Council have done nothing to assist me in seeking to find a way that would help me obtain the information I am requesting.

Therefore the only conclusion I can draw is that Edinburgh Council are purposefully seeking to conceal the number of cases of bullying
within their organisation.

Thank you for your assistance and full co-operation.

Yours sincerely

Vicky Gray

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

Original Message -----
From: Vicky
To: Barry
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: REVIEW OF THE HANDLING OF A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST NO. 2123 - REFERRAL TO THE OFFICE OF THE SCOTTISH INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

Dear Mr Leathem

Thank you for providing the information I asked for. I apologise for the delay in responding to your email.

Kind Regards

Vicky Gray
----- Original Message -----
From: Barry
To: vicky
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 5:52 PM
Subject: REVIEW OF THE HANDLING OF A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST NO. 2123 - REFERRAL TO THE OFFICE OF THE SCOTTISH INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

Ms Vicky Gray

Date

Our Ref

Your Ref
14 April 2009

Dear Ms Gray

REVIEW OF THE HANDLING OF A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST NO. 2123

REFERRAL TO THE OFFICE OF THE SCOTTISH INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

I refer to your Freedom of Information request, your review request, and the referral of the matter for a decision, to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Two of the pieces of information which you originally sought were:-

· The number of employees who have claimed constructive dismissal as a result of bullying or harassment and

· The number of claims lodged with an Employment Tribunal based on bullying or harassment.

I have reconsidered the Council’s position in relation to these two parts of the request (which relate to the period 1 September 2004 to 31 October 2008) and am now able to provide this information. I regret that this was not provided at an earlier stage.

The information is as follows:-

1. The number of employees who have claimed constructive dismissal as a result of bullying or harassment – 2 employees.

2. The number of claims lodged with an Employment Tribunal based on bullying or harassment – 4 employees. (Note that this figure excludes the 2 employees who claimed constructive dismissal as a result of bullying or harassment, but who lodged claims with the Employment Tribunal in relation to constructive dismissal).

If you are not satisfied with this response you may ask the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months to conduct a review of this decision. You can contact him at Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS. Thereafter you have the right to appeal the decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner on a point of law to the Court of Session.

I am sending a copy of this letter to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner for their information.

Yours sincerely

Jim Inch

Director of Corporate Services