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

Dear Mr Carruthers,

I am writing to confirm receipt of the email you sent on 23rd August in respect of a Freedom of Information request relating to Councillors, Complaints and Expenses. As you are aware the Council has 20 working days to respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act. I calculate that you are entitled to receive a response by 22nd September 2008.

I am in a position to provide you some of the information you have asked for which is as follows :

Complaints System

The Council has a corporate Complaints Management System called RESPOND which logs, records and provides management information about the types and volumes of complaints that are received and also monitors performance against targets

Complaints received

We publish the number of complaints received each year on our web site and information for the last two years is available on our web site - (http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/contact...). I have attached a copy of the report that is on our site. The information for the past 3 years is shown in the table below:

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

Stage 1

2,211

2,543

2,601

Stage 2

323

402

297

Stage 3

80

95

27

Stage 4

61

56

41

TOTAL

2675

3096

2966

Complaints Compensation

With regard to the levels of compensation that the council has paid - I am able to provide you with some of this information but it may be incomplete as departments are required to input this information onto our complaints system and the records may not be 100% up to date. These sums are INCLUSIVE of payments recommended by the Local Government Ombudsman. I am unable to separate these out as requested, without reviewing each and every individual case.

2005/6 36 cases £4,600.90

2006/7 31 cases £13,681.50

2007/8 44 cases £9,649.99

Ombudsman recommendations

The Council has always accepted the recommendations of the ombudsman, albeit on occasion where agreement has been reached after making representations to them. Compensation is paid out from individual departmental budgets except where the service provided has been outsourced. In these circumstances, the compensation is paid by the partner.

Complaints dealt with by Members

All stage 3 complaints are dealt with by Councillors as from 1/4/07 so I can confirm that 27 cases were dealt with formally by the panel in the first year of operation - 2007/8. Prior to this, complaints were dealt with by Officers. The Executive receives reports and performance data on complaints handling on a quarterly basis and has done so for each of the past 3 years. In addition, the Local Government Ombudsman issues an annual letter about stage 4 complaints and this is reviewed by the Executive.

Complaints Management

The authority no longer employs staff who are dedicated to managing complaints. This function is delegated to and undertaken by managers, in addition to their usual and normal duties, in departments who are responsible for ensuring that relevant staff deal and respond to complaints on time. It would be impossible for the authority to calculate what % of individual staff time is dedicated to complaints management and to therefore calculate an overall cost. Prior to 1/4/2007 two staff were employed as part of the Corporate Complaints team at a cost of approximately £90,000 per annum. The only on-going direct costs associated with complaints relates to the cost of licence fees paid to RESPOND for the complaints system we use. The licence costs were as follows :

2005/6 £7,200

2006/7 £7,560

2007/8 £7,741

Members Allowances

The amounts paid on members allowances including expenses were as follows :-

2005/06 £750,185

2006/07 £732,841

2007/08 £903,337

These figures are published on the Council's website every year and show the actual amounts paid to each individual councillor as required by law. The current list on the website relates to 2006/07.The council had 60 elected members in all of the three years.

Analysis of Members Time Allocation

I have been able to confirm with the Head of Democratic Services that we do not record the information you have requested in respect of time Councillors spent

a) on ceremonial duties

b) dealing with/resolving complaints

c) attending committees

We believe that in order to collate this information on all 60 councillors would take a substantial amount of time and effort and exceed the Information Commissioners guidance on costs. We believe that based on the costs of Officer time, calculated at £25 per hour, it would take greatly in excess of 18 hours to collate this information. I refer to Section 12(1) which states that "Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit".

Administrative costs and staff numbers

2005/6 £ staff

2006/7 £ staff

2007/8 £ staff

Council Composition

The current composition of the Council is that it is a Conservative/Independent Community group coalition

I hope to provide the outstanding information to you by the deadline. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hsitate to contact me directly.

Regards

Robert

Robert Della-Sala IRRV, MA
Head of Customer Services

London Borough of Hounslow
Civic Centre
Lampton Road
Hounslow
TW3 4DN

Tel 020 8583 2279
[mobile number]
Fax 020 8583 3747
Email [email address]
Web www.hounslow.gov.uk

________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS
[mailto:[FOI #2082 email]]
Sent: 23 August 2008 18:02
To: Information Ced
Subject: Freedom of Information request - council functions

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 Robert Della-Sala,

I would not have expected the Council to be able to provide
information as to the activities of the elected representatives.

I look forward to receiving the outstanding items

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Dear Mr Carruthers,

Further to my email dated 8/9/08 in response to your original email dated 23/8/08 I am able to provide you with some additional information which I was unable to

include in my previous response to you. I am still awaiting one other price of information which I hope to be able to get to you shortly.

QUESTION ABOUT ADMINSTRATIVE COSTS

Staffing costs include a large number of staff who are engaged on operational work, such as social workers, drivers, engineers and so on, as well people providing direct administrative support to make services run. It is difficult to precise about what is "administration" and how much is direct "operational cost."

The Council's Administrative Overhead is usually defined as what is shown under "Corporate and Democratic Core" in our financial statements. This includes staff costs and other associated costs of the Council's central administration. The figures from our published accounts are as follows:-

2005-06 £7.765M

2006-07 £7.451M

2007-08 £6.647M

It is worth bearing in mind that the Council's "turnover" is about £600M. If I can be of any further assistance, or if this information is not exactly what you wanted please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Regards

Robert

Robert Della-Sala IRRV, MA
Head of Customer Services

London Borough of Hounslow
Civic Centre
Lampton Road
Hounslow
TW3 4DN

Tel 020 8583 2279
[mobile number]
Fax 020 8583 3747
Email [email address]
Web www.hounslow.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Carruthers,

Further to my email dated 8/9/08 in response to your original email dated 23/8/08 I am able to provide you with what I believe is the final piece of information you requested, which I was unable to provide you with previously.

total no of staff employed 2005/06 - 7322

2006/07 - 7441

2007/08 - 7549

(these figures include all school-based staff and those on temporary and fixed term contracts as well as permanent)

Chief Executive's pay scale 2005/06 - £127,270-£135,519

2006/07 - £133,450-£157,000 (revised following review by The Hay Group)

2007/08 - £136,753-£160,886

Pay awards 1 April 2005 - 2.95%

1 April 2006 - 2.95%

1 April 2007 - 2.475%

1 April 2008 - pending

Increments & PRP The Chief Executive has received an increment each year on 1 April. He does not receive any performance related pay.

I have consulted Legal Services and have been advised that we should not release the Chief Executive's actual pay i.e. what spinal column point he's on, as this is considered personal information.

I think this information should answer all the outstanding issues, but please don't hesitate do get back to me if you think I've missed something.

Regards

Robert

Robert Della-Sala IRRV, MA
Head of Customer Services

London Borough of Hounslow
Civic Centre
Lampton Road
Hounslow
TW3 4DN

Tel 020 8583 2279
[mobile number]
Fax 020 8583 3747
Email [email address]
Web www.hounslow.gov.uk

Please consider the environment before printing this message.

Hounslow Council routinely monitors the content of e-mails sent and received via its network for the purposes of ensuring compliance with its policies and procedures. The contents of this message are for the attention and use of the intended addressee only. If you are not the intended addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to them, you may not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it or any part of it in any way. To do so may be unlawful. If you receive this e-mail by mistake please advise the sender immediately. Where opinions are expressed they are not necessarily those of the
London Borough of Hounslow.

This email has been scanned for viruses and inappropriate content.