council functions

I will be out of the office until Monday 20 October 2008. I will reply to
your email upon my return. If your message is urgent please contact
Chris Topham at [email address] If your email is a requests for
information, please send a copy to [Castle Morpeth Borough Council request email]

Dear Mr Carruthers,

Request for Information Reference - 526.

Castle Morpeth Borough Council acknowledges receipt of your request for
information. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 it will aim to
respond within 20 working days of its receipt on 20 October 2008.

If the council is unable to respond within this time scale or a fee is
payable for the provision of this information, we will contact you again.

Yours sincerely
Richard

Richard Branson
FOI/Workflow Project Manager
Castle Morpeth Borough Council
[email address]

<<complaints procedure - access to information.pdf>>
Dear Mr Carruthers,

Request for Information Reference 526.

Further to your request for information, I am pleased to provide the
information held by the council in response to your request as follows:-

"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 Council does not hold any information in this regard as elected
members do not report how they allocate their time to the Council.

"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."

Total Paid to Elected Members in 2005/06 *158,742
Total Paid to Elected Members in 2006/07 *172,030
Total Paid to Elected Members in 2007/08 *184,255

There were 33 Elected Members of Castle Morpeth Borough Council over this
period

"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."

The Council's register runs from January to December for formal
complaints.

Year Number of complaints
99
62
69
28 to date

No complaints were formally considered by elected members.

"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."

No complaints were formally considered by elected members.

"I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to a
complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrong doing) 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."

Year Costs Paid by the Council

2005 *455.50
2006 *20.00
2007 *15.00
2008 *0.00

"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)"

Year Payment by way of local settlement

2005/06 *600.00
2006/07 *52,757.75
2007/08 0.00

The Council had no findings of maladministration over this time period.
All local settlements were met in full.
No payments were met by insurance.
The payments came out of the general fund.

"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."

Number of Staff employed in and costs of Administering Complaint Systems

The Council does not hold this information

Total administrative costs

2005/06 *1,295,000
2006/07 *1,568,000
2007/08 *1,349,000

Total Number of staff in authority:

1 April 05 - 359
1 April 06 - 316
1 April 07 - 308

Chief Executive's Pay Increase:

1 April 05 - *2,259 (as a result of annual pay award)
1 April 06 - *2,328 (as a result of annual pay award)
1 February 07 - *12,280 (as a result of an independent salary
review)
1 April 07 - *2,010 (as a result of annual pay award)

Chief Executive Salary Band
2005/06 70,000 - 79,999
2006/07 80,000 - 89,999
2007/08 80,000 - 89,999

" 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."

The Council considers its Complaints System is fit for purpose

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used
for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use,
for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public
will require the permission of the copyright owner.

If you are not satisfied with the Council's response, then you should, in
the first instance, complain to the Council using the Access to
Information Complaints Procedure. I have enclosed a copy of the Access to
Information complaint procedures for your information.

If after complaining to the council you are still dissatisfied with the
outcome, you should complain to the Information Commissioner, whose
contact details are listed in the enclosed Complaints Procedure.

Yours sincerely
Richard

Richard Branson
FOI/Workflow Project Manager
Castle Morpeth Borough Council
[email address]