council functions

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is an automated response from [Dover District Council request email] to
thank you for your e-mail and to confirm that it has successfully reached
us.

Where a reply is required, we aim to respond to customer enquiries as soon
as possible, however please note that if the subject is particularly
complicated or requires substantial investigation then it may take up to
10 working days to provide you with a full and accurate response.

If you have access to the Internet you may wish to see if your enquiry can
be dealt with online. The Dover District Council website
[1](http://www.dover.gov.uk) enables many forms to be completed and
payments to be made as well as providing comprehensive information about
our services.

Note: Please do not reply to this message as it is from an automated
response mailbox that is unmonitored.

Thank You.

Dover District Council.
Whitecliffs Business Park,
Whitfield, Dover, Kent.
CT16 3PJ
Tel: 01304 821199

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hardwicke-Carruthers

Thank you for your request for information about time spent by elected members. Your request was received on 26 August 2008 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this email please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Mandy Weir
Performance Officer
Dover District Council
Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover CT16 3PJ

Tel: 01304 872318
Fax: 01304 872300
Email: [email address]
Web: www.dover.gov.uk

P Please consider the Environment before printing this email

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hardwick Carruthers

I am writing in respect of your enquiry for information held by this
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Your
request was received on 26 August 2008 and you were seeking details
of time spent by elected members.

Please find the information that you requested detailed below. I
have included your questions in italics with our response
underneath highlighted in blue.

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.

For the municipal years 2005/6 through to 2007/08 we do not hold any
records as to the proportion of time spent by elected Members on their
duties. In respect of the time spent on activities for their political
party, this would be a matter for the relevant political party and not 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.

The Council has 45 Members. Please find attached copies of details of
members allowances for these periods

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.

2005/6 = 140, 2006/7 = 128 and 2007/8 = 140

Complaints processed by the Performance & Risk Section in accordance with
the Council*s complaints process are reported to the Council*s Standards
Committee. This Committee is made up of elected and independent 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, 006/2007 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.

The number of complaints that led to members identifying that a staff
member had acted wrongly is nil during the period specified. The number
of complaints that led to members identifying that there was no
wrong-doing by a staff member was none during 2005/06, 3 during 2006/07
and 1 in 2007/08. There were no members of staff that ceased to be
employed as a direct result of a complaint and members identifying this to
be the case during these periods. Please be advised that the authority to
dismiss is delegated to the Chief Executive. Members would only hear
appeals against such a decision.

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.

This information is not recorded separately within the Council's budgets
and would therefore require each record to be examined individually to
locate the relevant information. This would involve a considerable amount
of work and staff time. Taking into consideration the amount of time
already spent on previous questions within your request, it is anticipated
that the time taken would exceed the 'appropriate limit' set within the
Freedom of Information Act and would exceed £450. The Council will
therefore not provide this information.

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)

We do not hold information relating to local settlement separately within
the Council's budget, please see the response above.

We can confirm that the Local Government Ombudsman has found no cases of
maladministration causing injustice during the periods you have stated.

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.

We do not hold information on the financial cost of administering our
complaints system nor on the administrative costs generally, nor do we
have records of the number of staff employed in administering complaints.
Although we have a Professional Standards Officer who investigates
compliants, in the first instance the compliant would be sent through to
the relevant department to try and resolve, this could involve a number of
staff.

The total number of staff employed by the District Council is

2005/06 416.40 FTE

2006/07 411.77 FTE

2007/08 414.10 FTE

The Chief Executive*s pay was increased by 2.95% in 2005/06 and 2006/07
and by 2.475% in 2007/08. There were no 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.

The Council's complaints system is fit for purpose.

I hope you find the information enclosed useful but if for whatever reason
you are unhappy with the response you are entitled to pursue any
dissatisfaction through the Council*s Complaints Procedure

Yours sincerely

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|| |Mandy Weir |
|| |Performance Officer |
|| |Dover District Council |
|| |Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover CT16 |
|| |3PJ |
|| | |
|| |Tel: 01304 872318 |
|| |Fax: 01304 872300 |
|| |Email: [1][email address] |
|| |Web: [2]www.dover.gov.uk |
|| | |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|P Please consider the Environment before printing this email |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

show quoted sections