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

Dear Owen, Michael A,

Overdue. Complaints procedure engaged

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I have already requested an internal review of Bury Borough
Council's handling of my FOI request 'council functions'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

The ICO stated on 20 December 2008:

20th December 2008

Case Reference Number FS50226749

Dear,

Your information request to Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

Thank you for your correspondence dated 16 December 2008 in which
you complain about      Bury‚s failure to respond to your
information request.

In cases such as this the Commissioner does not consider that
serving a formal decision notice would serve any strong public
interest. However, I have written to the public authority to
provide them with a copy of your original request reminding it of
its responsibilities and asking it to respond to you within 10
working days of receiving our letter. I attach a copy for your
information.

As you will see, even though the Commissioner does not intend to
issue a formal notice in this case, your concerns have been taken
seriously. Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of
the Information Commissioner.

If Bury responds and refuses to release the information you have
asked for and you are dissatisfied, you may, after exhausting their
internal complaints procedure, complain to us again.

This case has now been closed with the delayed response element
showing as Œwithdrawn‚ on our records. If you do not receive a
response within 10 working days or are dissatisfied after having
exhausted the internal review process mentioned above and would
like us to look into the matter, please contact us quoting the
reference number on this letter.

Should you have any questions about this please contact our
Helpline....

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

attached is a copy of the letter from the ICO to yourself:

Freedom of Information Officer
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council
Town Hall
Knowsley Street
Bury, Lancashire
BL9 0SW


20th December 2008

Case Reference Number FS50226749

Dear Sir/Madam,

Complaint from Mr Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

The Information Commissioner has received a complaint from Mr
Hardwicke Carruthers stating that no response has been sent to an
information request submitted to your organisation on 23 August
2008, which has been acknowledged. The original request was made at
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

Any public authority in receipt of such a request is under a duty
to respond within 20 working days of receipt. As it is the case
that you have not responded, we would ask that you now please do so
within 10 working days of receipt of this letter. We should be
grateful if you could also provide a copy of your response to this
office.

You should state whether or not the information is held in a
recorded form. If it is held, you should either provide the
information or issue a refusal notice in accordance with the
requirements of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act or
regulation 14 of the Environmental Information Regulations as
appropriate. You can find more information on refusal notices,
including a checklist of what such a notice should contain in the
Commissioner’s Good Practice Guidance No.1, available at:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

For further advice on how to deal with freedom of information
requests, please visit our website at www.ico.gov.uk or call our
helpline on 08456 306060, or 01625 545745 if you prefer to use a
National Rate number.

If you need to contact us about this matter, please quote the case
reference number from the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

FoI Case Reception Unit
The Information Commissioner’s Office

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS