Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3
acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council on
these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they
spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these
formal determinations by the elected representatives identify that
there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff employed
by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to
be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint
against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be
the case.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding
self insurance by a Council)

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.

Yours faithfully

Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS

Ref: FOI/949

Dear Mr Hardwicke-Carruthers

I am writing in response to your request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 received by us on the 26 August 2008.

Your request has been allocated the Reference FOI/949. Please quote
this reference in any correspondence regarding this request.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we have 20 working days to
respond to your request. Therefore the deadline for our response is 23
September 2008.

If we require further information from you in order to assist us in
responding to your request, or if we require a fee to be paid before we
can respond, we will contact you promptly.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

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e-mail?

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<[FOI #2079 email]> 23/08/08 17:57 >>>
Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties
for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3
acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council
on
these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they
spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses)
for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how
many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008
for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these
formal determinations by the elected representatives identify
that
there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff
employed
by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to
be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint
against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be
the case.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid
to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the
Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's
recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial
recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not
been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers
(excluding
self insurance by a Council)

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP)
by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the
number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide
details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your
authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds
sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the
Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state
this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a
functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please
identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if
this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with
date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.

Yours faithfully

Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

Your response is overdue

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Ref: FOI/949

Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request below.
Please accept my apologies for the slight delay in our response.

As I understand it you were requesting to know:

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council Staff)
of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3 acting for the
political parties that they represent and/or ceremonial duties (i.e. all
time not spent on sitting on a Committee or resolving a complaint
against the executive);

The London Borough of Hillingdon does not record councillors time
therefore we do not hold this information.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to local
councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for 2005/2006,
2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many elected
representatives are (and were) represented on you authority for these
years.

The London Borough of Hillingdon has 65 members

see attached for historical data in relation to amounts paid to
members

The link below provides the figures for individual members for
2007/2008

http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?a...

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were submitted
to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for each year. I
would further like to know how many of these complaints were formally
considered by an elected representative for each of these years.

2005/2006
1676

2006/2007
1113

2007/2008
818

none - elected representatives do not consider complaints

I would further like to know how many complaints against the Executive
(Council staff) led to the elected representatives formally identifying
that the Executive had acted wrongly for the years 2005/2006, 2006/2007
and 2007/2008, and how many of these formal determinations by the
elected representatives identify that there was no wrong-doing by the
Executive.
none - members do not consider complaints

How many staff employed by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 ceased to be employed by your authority as a direct result of
a complaints against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this
to be the case.
We do not record this information, although it is likely that answer
would be none.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to a
complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its own
complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in 2005/2006,
2006/2007 and 2007/2008.
difficult to ascertain - not all 'compensation' would necessarily be
monetary and may not be possible to quantify in addition we would need
to look at the outcome of each individual complaint to ascertain a
figure. obviously this would be a large amount of work which would be
'over the appropriate limit'.

how much money either in the form of local settlement or additional
formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended that
your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for each year)
2005/6 - £2,550
2006/7 - £25,950
2007/8 - £800 paid in local settlements

and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations have been met
in full (including any non-financial recommendations for each year).
Please detail any recommendation that has not been met in full
2005/6 - met in full

2006/7 - met in full, in fact paid out an additional £1,500 in
compensation that what the LGO recommended for one settlement where a
report was issued.
2007/8 - met in full

and provide a copy of the Elected representatives decision.

see link below
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/ctteedocs/n...

Please additionally identify if these costs were met directly by
Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding self insurance
by a Council)
Costs are met through departmental budgets.

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of administering
all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by the Executive for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number of staff employed in
administering complaints and resolving these(Full time equivalent
staffing levels).
We do not hold this information as staff that handle complaints do
whilst also performing other duties. However, there are 7 departmental
complaints co-ordinators and 1 Freedom of Information and Data
Protection Officer.

Please also provide details of your total administrative costs for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008
Please see our published statements of accounts
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?a...

and the total number of staff employed by your authority,
3627 (head count)

as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling for
each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

This information is included in our annual statement of accounts
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?a...

The CEO salary does not include performance related payments

Freedom of Information Team
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon
in response to your request for information is for your personal,
non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all
rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised
copying or adaptation of the information without express written
confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an
infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information
commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for
re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

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show quoted sections

<[FOI #2079 email]> 23/08/08 17:57 >>>
Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties
for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3
acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council
on
these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they
spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses)
for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how
many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008
for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these
formal determinations by the elected representatives identify
that
there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff
employed
by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to
be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint
against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be
the case.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid
to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the
Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's
recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial
recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not
been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers
(excluding
self insurance by a Council)

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP)
by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the
number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide
details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your
authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds
sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the
Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state
this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a
functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please
identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if
this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with
date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.

Yours faithfully

Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS

show quoted sections