Complaints

Dear Trevor

Thank you, for your email I have forwarded this to our FOI team for you.

Kind regards
Nathan Moore
Call Derbyshire Administrator

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Dear Mr Nunn,

I write in reply to you enquiry below. A complaint, as defined within your pre-question clarification, covers a very broad spectrum of events. Therefore, pursuant to Section 1(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we kindly request a more precise definition of the type of information you seek to allow us to search for the data. Please note that your request remains on hold until we have received this additional information.

To assist you, and in compliance with our obligations under Section 16 of the same Act, we would add;

The nature of your current request would require the collation of data from a multitude of locations within the Council, requiring considerable effort on the part of many sections. As such, it is certain that your request would exceed the fee limit of £450, although we are at this stage unable to calculate an estimate until we have received further details from you. Furthermore, given the very broad scope of the current request, covering a multitude of complaints of dissimilar nature, it is difficult to see what purpose this data would serve and so as it currently stands it may be necessary to consider the application Section 14 (Vexation).

The points you might consider are;
- Is there any type of complaint you had in mind, such as one relating to a particular function of the Council?
- Is there a particular geographical area that interests you?
- Is there a particular event that is of interest?

I look forward to receiving your reply.

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Dear Mr Nunn,

Having received the clarification of your request, we are now able to proceed with this as a Freedom of Information request. The deadline for replying to you is November 12 and we will respond to you on or before that date.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Estrella-Pinto
Information Access Officer
for David Tysoe, County Secretary
Derbyshire County Council
County Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3AG
01629 580000 x7373

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Dear Mr Nunn,

I write in reply to your email below and further to the clarification you provided on October 15. We have dealt with your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

You have asked us for several statistics concerning formal complaints.

The total number of complaints to the Council under its formal complaints procedure between October 2007 and March 2008 were 472. The number between April and June 2008 is 266. Regarding this latter figure, I must advise you that this is raw data from a number of sources throughout the Council and has yet to be verified. Consequently, this figure is subject to change. No figures are yet available for the period between July and September 2008 as this information has yet to be collated from all sections of the Council.

Please note that this information, together with verified figures for the first quarter of this financial year will be publicly available when the information is next reported at a Cabinet meeting sometime after July 2009. However, I am also supplying you with a copy of our Cabinet report of 22 April 2008 that gives figures for the financial year of 2006 to 2007 and between April and September 2007.

In reply to your numbered questions;

1) the Local Government Ombudsman? [LGO]

We do not maintain statistics on how many complaints were referred to the LGO. Whilst the LGO will contact us if a complaint is made we keep no separate record of this and would need to search through all complaints received in order to determine which had been referred to the LGO during the life cycle of the complaint.

However, The LGO themselves do maintain such statistics and these can be found on both our website (http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/contact_us/...) and on the LGO's website www.lgo.org.uk. These reports are published on the basis of financial years, with data from April 2008 to March 2009 not expected for publication by the LGO before July 2009.

For this reason we are unable to supply you with a percentage of complaints referred to the LGO over the period you have defined, as we do not have the LGO figures for the period between April 2008 and September 2008.

2) the Police?

No formal complaints have been referred to the police. Therefore the figure is 0%.

3) Solicitors and/or the courts?

No formal complaints have been referred to the courts. Therefore the figure is 0%.

Complaints may come to us from members of the public or from solicitors representing individuals or organisations. The Council does not maintain a separate record of complaints represented by solicitors as all complaints are treated equally whether they are made direct or through legal representation. As above, we would need to search through all complaints to find which ones involved solicitors.

I now address those parts of our replies above where we have been unable to supply figures as the information is not yet collated and would require checking all files over the period you are interested in. I have carefully considered your request and must inform you that it is our view that such a search would constitute a disproportionate effort, particularly in relation to information that will be publicly available in a few months time.

Using the data from 2006/7 as an example, there 776 complaints. Allowing a conservative figure of 10 minutes to check each complaint would result in a total time of just over 129 hours to complete a check of all records.

Under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004 the cost of complying with your request would be at least £3,225. As this far exceeds the statutory limit of £450, we find that we must deny your request at this time.

It is also my duty to offer you advice and assistance in redefining your request to see what extra information can be provided to you under the fee limit. However, it is difficult to see what advice I can offer you at this stage without some further idea of what it is that you are interested in. As you will recall, we have already written to you to further clarify the request, which has resulted in the above reply.

If you would like me to further consider what else we may supply you please feel free to contact me to discuss the matter.

I trust that the information provided goes some way to satisfying you enquiry. However, if you wish to appeal this decision or any other aspect of this reply you may do so in writing to myself and I will forward this to an appropriate senior officer for review. I attach a copy of our complaints procedure for your information.

Thank you for your interest in Derbyshire County Council.

Your sincerely,
Stuart Estrella-Pinto
Information Access Officer
for David Tysoe, County Secretary
Derbyshire County Council
County Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3AG
01629 580000 x7373

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