Dear Sir or Madam,

Pre-question clarification: A complaint against a council may
consist purely on an administrative error or it may also include a
potentially criminal act and/or infringements of a complainants
civil rights (legal and/or human rights).

Therefore, I would like the following information, over the last 12
months, as a percentage of total complaints against the council how
many ended up being dealt with by,

1)the Local Government Ombudsman?

2)the Police?

3)Solicitors and/or the courts?

Yours faithfully,

Trevor R Nunn

I am out of the office until Monday October 6 and will contact you on my return. If you have an urgent enquiry, please contact Susan Meaden on 01243 534754. With all good wishes, Karen Carter, Public Relations Officer, Chichester District Council.

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Dear Mr Nunn

In response to your FOI Request, here is the information you require:

Over the last 12 months, as a percentage of total complaints against the
council, how many ended up being dealt with by

(1) Local Govt Ombudsman?

The Council's complaints system provides two internal stages for customers
to seek an investigation into the detail of their complaint and offer the
Council the opportunity to resolve the matter to the customer's
satisfaction. The first stage is managed and investigated by a senior
manager within the service area concerned who is a designated Complaints
Officer.

Should the customer remain dissatisfied following this investigation, they
are offered the opportunity to escalate the complaint to be investigated
by the Chief Executive's office. At the conclusion of the second stage, if
the customer remains dissatisfied, they have the opportunity to seek
independent investigation by the Local Govt Ombudsman.

During the year 2007/8, 23 formal complaints were received by the
Ombudsman, where the customer was not satisfied with the response under
stages 1 and 2.

(2) The Police?

We are not aware of any staff complaint incidents being formally referred
to the Police.

(3) Solicitors and/or the courts?

There have been no court cases arising out of complaints against the
Council in the last 12 months.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Karen Carter
Public Relations Officer
Chichester District Council
Telephone: (01243) 534679
Fax: (01243) 776766
Email: [email address]
For the latest news from Chichester District Council, please visit:
<[1]http://www.chichester.gov.uk/yourcouncil...>

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References

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1. http://www.chichester.gov.uk/yourcouncil...