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 Hardwicke Carruthers

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your e-mail dated 23 August 2008 requesting information under the above Act, received by Kettering Borough Council on 26 August 2008. Your request for information is currently being processed and should the Council require any further clarification regarding your request, I will contact you to discuss this with you.

In the meantime, please accept this letter by way of an acknowledgement of your request for information.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Perry

Freedom of Information Advisor

Customer Services and Information

Kettering Borough Council

Direct Dial: 01536 315111

E-mail: [email address]

show quoted sections

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Direct Line: 01536 535624

E-mail: [email address]

Our Ref: FOI/400/08

Date: 22 September 2008

Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email dated 23 August 2008 requesting information under the above Act, received by Kettering Borough Council on 25 August 2008. You have requested a comprehensive list of information and I address each of your requests in the order you have raised them:

1. We do not hold information relating to the proportion of time the elected representatives of our authority spend as part of their duties on their main activities. The time each individual Member devotes to their role as an elected representative varies depending on the positions they hold and what committees they are a member of. We do however hold information relating to the number of committee meetings they attend and the time spent at those meetings. This information is analysed on a quarterly basis and I attach the quarterly reports for the years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/08. You may be able to obtain the information in the format you are requesting from the Local Government Association, details of which you can obtain from the following link. This agency carries out a National Census of Local Authority Councillors (in conjunction with the Improvement and Development Agency) which we provide support in administering, however we do not hold the results of the survey.

http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?p...

2. Details relating to Councillors allowances/expense are exempt from disclosure under The Freedom of Information Act 2000 under Section 21 as they are readily available by another means. Please refer to our website under the following link:

http://www.kettering.gov.uk/site/scripts...

3. The number of complaints submitted to Kettering Borough Council during the past 3 financial years are detailed in the table below. None of those complaints received were considered by an Elected Member as all complaints are dealt with via our Corporate Complaints Procedure.

Customer Complaints

MP Enquires/Complaints

Member Enquiries/Complaints

2005/06

383

117

19

2006/07

421

158

3

2007/08

256

163

5

4. There have been no complaints considered by an Elected Member whereby an officer has been identified as acting outside of their duties, either where the complaint was upheld or not justified.

There has been no member of staff whose employment has been terminated as a direct result of a complaint raised by an Elected Member against an officer.

5. The amounts paid in compensation under our formal complaints procedure, excluding any intervention by the Local Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or any other similar body are:

2005/06 - nil

2006/07 - £25

2007/08 - £50

These figures represent the amounts actually paid out, other offers of compensation have been made during the above periods but declined by the complainant.

6. The amounts paid to complainants in the form of a local settlement following the intervention of the Local Government Ombudsman are as follows:

2005/06 - information not held

2006/07 - £300

2007/08 - £850

All recommendations made by the Local Government Ombudsman have been met in full. For further information relating to Local Government Ombudsman complaints please refer to the following links:

http://www.lgo.org.uk/letters/2007-08/in...

http://www.kettering.gov.uk/site/scripts...

7. We are unable to determine the costs of administering our Corporate Complaints System (including FOI and Data Protection) as this forms part of our Customer Services budget and an analysis of the costs specifically for Complaints, FOI and Data Protection is not undertaken.

8. The number of staff in administering our Corporate Complaints Procedure is as follows:

2005/06 - 1

2006/07 - 1

2007/08 - 1

9. Information relating to administrative costs relating to staff, please refer to our annual accounts which are held on our website:

http://www.kettering.gov.uk/site/scripts...

http://www.kettering.gov.uk/site/scripts...

To comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003 the Council does not disclose any further details that may link individuals with the data provided.

10. The pay increases awarded to the Chief Executive of Kettering Borough Council are as follows:

April 2005 - 2.95%

April 2006 - 2.95%

April 2007 - 2.475%l

These increases applied were as per the national agreement and relate to all first and second tier officers

The total expenditure on performance related pay in relation to the posts detailed in 1 above for each of the financial years 2005/06; 2006/07 and 2007/08

2005/06 - £20,000

2006/07 - £22,000

2007/08 - £17,000

11. As we believe we maintain a fully functioning Corporate Complaints Process which is fit for purpose, and have provided the information you have requested, we will not be providing any comments in relation to your final paragraph.

I trust this above information is helpful however, if you are unhappy with my reply, please find enclosed a copy of the Council's complaint leaflet. Upon receipt of your complaint, the Council will then conduct a review of its decision and inform you of the outcome.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the review, you can appeal directly to the Information Commissions Office (ICO) who will investigate the Council's decision regarding your request. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the Councils complaints procedure first. Details about how to complain to the Information Commissioner can be found on the ICO website at http://www.ico.gov.uk <http://www.ico.gov.uk/>

Yours sincerely

Karen Sait

Freedom of Information Advisor