council functions

I am out of the office on Friday 22nd August and the offices are closed
on Monday 25th August. I will respond to emails when I return on Tuesday
26th August. Please refer urgent items to Denise Anns
[email address]

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FoI/2008/214

Dear Mr Carruthers,
Thank you for your requests. I have treated these as four separate
requests as you are asking for:

FoI/2008/214 - recorded information on the time taken by Elected
representatives (councillors) to carry out their duties, and financial
payments (expenses) made to them.
FoI/2008/215 - statistical and financial data on complaints handling in
West Berkshire Council
FoI/2008/216 - statistical and financial data on management of FoI
requests in West Berkshire Council
FoI/2008/217 - Council staffing, administrative costs, and payments made
to the Chief Executive.

Much of this information is publicly available on our website. I will
progress these requests and respond to you shortly with the links to the
appropriate pages.

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [1][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

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FoI/2008/214
Dear Mr Carruthers,
You have asked;

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 committees;

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 have established that your description of the duties and work of a
councillor is incomplete since it excludes case work and meeting with
constituents, and may exclude other administrative work (for
example, consultation work with Council Services ). I have also
established that councillors do not monitor their time using time sheets
and do not therefore provide this information to the Council (in addition,
time spent on political activities would not be the business of this
Council but of the councillor's political party). In terms of your request
for time spent there is therefore no recorded information to provide. You
may however wish to look at the information on elected members on our
website as this provides more information about their specific areas of
work. It can be found here:
[1]http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...

You have also asked about the expenses paid to councillors. This
information is published under statute - Regulation 15(3) of the Local
Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, and can be
found on West Berkshire Council's Disclosure Log.

[2]http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...
You will find a full list of the councillors for each of these years on
the expenses sheets, which will supply the answer to your request for
numbers of councillors in each of these years.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy & Scrutiny
Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury
RG14 5LD if you wish to make a complaint. If you are not content with the
outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [3][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

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FoI/2008/216

Dear Mr Carruthers

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).

There is no separate financial monitoring of the complaints system. There
is a single officer (myself) with responsibility for corporate monitoring
of corporate complaints, freedom of information requests, and data
protection requests, and my manager oversees this work. We are both full
time but our work also encompasses other areas. 2 officers in Social Care
Services manage and monitor complaints regarding Social Care in addition
to other duties. The Monitoring Officer now deals with complaints about
members following the changes proposed by the Standards Board in May
2008. In addition, staff in the Directorates also manage complaints which
come in at Stage 1 to their offices, and those which are passed on by
myself. At Stage 1 the complaint is generally resolved by the Service, and
will be reviewed by a senior officer. At Stage 2 the complaint will be
reviewed by a senior manager, or a senior manager or officer in another
Service. Ombudsman complaints are usually responded to by myself
in consultation with the service. I do not keep a note of the time taken
dealing with complaints although I would estimate it takes about 20-30% of
my time depending on circumstances. I am afraid that because any staff
member may be required to respond to a complaint it is not possible to
provide FTE's for the number of staff administering and responding to
complaints; dealing with complaints forms part of the normal workload of
all staff.

For Freedom of Information requests a record is kept of the time taken to
deal with requests, and a calculation is made of the cost of staff time
expended. The costing is based on the £25 an hour valuation provided by
the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 Regulation 3. Statistics are collated for calendar
years.

In 2005 the aggregated cost in staff time was £5879.19 (141 requests)

In 2006 the aggregated cost in staff time was £6269.00 (185 requests)

In 2007 the aggregated cost in staff time was £5702.50 (205 requests)

There is no separate financial monitoring of Data Protection requests but
where the work is carried out by an independent social worker (as is the
case with a number of our social work requests) there will be a record of
the amount paid for this work. In 2005 we carried out a comparative
exercise to monitor costs in staff time and kept a record of the monitored
information which is given below.

In 2005 the aggregated cost of managing and responding to Data Protection
requests by independent social workers was £6000; in addition there was
an estimated 110 hours of staff time internally to deal with other Data
Protection requests (equating to £2750). 47 requests were received.

No similar exercise has been carried out since and there is therefore no
complete financial record for the following years. I can make an
approximation of staff time taken if you would like an estimated figure.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy & Scrutiny
Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury
RG14 5LD if you wish to make a complaint. If you are not content with the
outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [1][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections

FoI/2008/215

Dear Mr Carruthers,

You have asked:

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.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Year |Number of Ombudsman Complaints| Number of Ombudsman |
| | Received | Reviews/Decisions Completed |
|------+------------------------------+----------------------------------|
|2007/8| 39 | 40 |
|------+------------------------------+----------------------------------|
|2006/7| 31 | 33 |
|------+------------------------------+----------------------------------|
|2005/6| 30 | 29 |
|------+------------------------------+----------------------------------|
|2004/5| 32 | 31 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Chart 1 Ombudsman Complaints and Decisions - Statistics for West Berkshire

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Year | Stage 1 complaints | Stage 2 Complaints |
|----------------+---------------------------+---------------------------|
| 2007/08 | 215 | 30 |
|----------------+---------------------------+---------------------------|
| 2006/07 | 231 | 14 |
|----------------+---------------------------+---------------------------|
| 2005/06 | 407 | 23 |
|----------------+---------------------------+---------------------------|
| 2004/05 | 445 | 28 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Chart 2 Stage 1 and 2 Complaints - Statistics for West Berkshire
I have provided the statistics for Ombudsman complaints, Stage 1 and Stage
2 corporate complaints in West Berkshire. You have asked about elected
representatives considering and resolving complaints but in this council
the process is to resolve complaints within the service, although we may
refer to a ward member while seeking a resolution, and some complaints are
submitted by MP's or councillors on behalf of their constituents. Your
questions as stated therefore do not apply to our process. You may wish to
revise this section of your request.

I will confirm with the Social Care services the number of complaints made
in the requested periods, as Social Care complaints are managed by a
different (statutory process) and separate statistics are kept.

You have also asked about financial settlements. I will check to see what
record has been kept of payments made in settlement of complaints for
Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints for this period. I can confirm that in
terms of Ombudsman decisions, in 2005-6 there were 2 local settlements, in
2006-7 there were three local settlements and in 2007-8 there were three
local settlements. There have been no formal findings of maladministration
with injustice. I will discuss provision of details of the settlements but
it is possible that this information is exempt under Section 40 (personal
data) or Section 44 (Prohibitions on Disclosure) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

You will find more information (including complaints statistics) on our
website at:
[1]www.westberks.gov.uk/complaints

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [2][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections

FoI/2008/217

Dear Mr Carruthers,
You have asked:

Please 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.
Staffing statistics are included on our Disclosure Log and can be found
here:
[1]http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...

Annual accounts can be found on our website here:
[2]http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...
It is not clear from your request what you mean by 'administrative costs'
but you may find the summary information leaflets for the accounts in
2005-6 and 2006-7 useful - these give 'Net Expenditure on Continuing
Services' which I believe may be the figure you are seeking. The accounts
for 2007-8 have not yet been published.

In 2006-7 the Chief Executive earned £131,431 including a car allowance
of £4,000. I have not yet obtained the information in respect of 2005-6
- I believe that in this period Jim Graham left this post and Nick Carter
was appointed so there will be two sets of figures. Again, the accounts
for 2007-8 have not yet been published. I will provide the additional
information when obtained.

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [3][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections

FoI/2008/217

Dear Mr Carruthers,

You requested "any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling for
2005/6, 2006/7 2007/8. Please additionally identify if the
Chief Executive's wages included performance related payments."

Our current Chief Executive is Nick Carter. He was acting CE from November
2005 and in post by 1st December 2005.

In 2005/06 his pay as Chief Executive was £118,131 scp 79 (although
this was only paid from December 2005); in 2006/07 his pay was £121,617
scp 79; and following this a new scale was introduced and his pay was
assimilated to the new scale, so in 2007/08 his pay was £127,431 scp 3.
I have supplied this in this format as it enables you to judge increases
but gives clarity as regards scale points. He receives a £4,000 car
allowance. I understand that his pay does not include performance related
payments but am confirming this.

I am not certain whether you also require the pay for the previous Chief
Executive, who was in post for only part of 2005-6 - perhaps you can
clarify this.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy & Scrutiny
Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury
RG14 5LD if you wish to make a complaint. If you are not content with the
outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [1][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections

FoI/2008/215

Dear Mr Carruthers,

You have asked:
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).

In 2005/6 there were no formal findings of maladministration, and 2 local
settlements were made - for one of these the council carried out a
reassessment of council tax benefit to correct a minor error, in the other
the council had delayed in applying rural rates relief and paid a small
amount of compensation (not exceeding **100)
In 2006/7 there were no formal findings of maladministration, and 3 local
settlements totalling **1,500 were made.
in 2007/8 there were no formal findings of maladministration, and 3 local
settlements totalling **4,075 were made - in one case the local settlement
involved identifying an error in recovery of an overpayment but no
financial compensation was paid.

Costs were met from existing service budgets.

Where recommendations are made (this is not always part of a local
settlement) they are incorporated into procedures and staff are advised.
This is a semi-formal process and does not involve the elected members. We
may discuss the process further with the Ombudsman's office and seek
additional guidance if we consider that some part of the process is
difficult to implement or if working practice changes will implement the
required correction in some other fashion (for example by use of
electronic databases). In this way we have always reached agreement with
the LGO as to how to implement changes and improvements suggested as part
of the complaints process.

You have also asked:
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.

We do not keep a record of this information as a separate financial
record, as where a complaint is settled at Stage One it will be resolved
by the Service, and any payment will be made from the service budget. In
addition, in the majority of cases, while we do not record complaints
using the same identification as the Ombudsman, the 'local settlement'
would normally be a resolution of a financial issue such as an over or
under payment of Council tax and the settlement would only be financial in
nature in that it would involve a correction of the payment and provision
of new payment details for the remainder of the year. Such provisions are
subsumed in normal business within council tax records and similar. There
is therefore no recorded information to provide in response to this part
of the request.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy & Scrutiny
Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury
RG14 5LD if you wish to make a complaint. If you are not content with the
outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [1][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections