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,

Information Request - Freedom of Information Act

I am writing to acknowledge your request for information received on 23rd August 2008. Your request is likely exceed the 18 hour fee ceiling under the Freedom of Information Act. However I am making enquiries about what information we can provide within the 18 hour limit.

We are dealing with your request and will be in contact with you again.

In most cases we will reply within 20 working days. If, for any reason, this is not possible we will let you know.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Payne
Assistant Information Compliance Officer
Law & Governance

Telephone: 01202 451179
Email: [email address]
Fax: 01202 451001

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Dear Mr Carruthers,

Information Request - Freedom of Information Act

Further to your request for information received on 23rd August 2008
please find attached our response to your request.

I hope that this deals with your request satisfactorily.

The information supplied to you is subject to copyright protection under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it (not
including logos) for non-commercial purposes. You must re-use it
accurately and not in a misleading context, and acknowledge us as your
source. Re-use for commercial purposes may require a licence. Initial
enquiries about re-using all or part of this information for commercial
purposes should be directed to the Council's Corporate Information
Compliance Officer who can be contacted by email at
[Bournemouth Borough Council request email], or in writing to:

Bournemouth Borough Council

Legal Services

Bourne Avenue

Bournemouth

BH2 6DY

If we have identified any third party copyright material, you must
ensure you have gained their permission before reproducing the
information.

If you are dissatisfied with this response you can ask for a review,
which will be dealt with through the Council's complaints procedure.
Details of the complaints procedure can be found at
http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Residents/....

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council's review you
have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner's
Office. Contact details for the Information Commissioner can be found
at:

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
<http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/>

Yours sincerely,

Tom Payne
Assistant Information Compliance Officer
Law & Governance

Telephone: 01202 451179
Email: [email address]
<mailto:[email address]>
Fax: 01202 451001

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