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 Hardwicke Carruthers

REF NO: 1094.1.

Thank you for your recent enquiry, received on 23rd August 2008. We can
confirm that your enquiry is receiving attention and a response will be
provided within 20 working days following receipt of your enquiry as
allowed under the Freedom of Information Act legislation.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

Please do not hesitate to contact me direct on (01642) 729696/729698 or
email foi@middlesbrough. gov.uk should you require any further advice or
assistance with this or any other matter.

Yours sincerely

Steph Robson
Freedom Of Information Officer

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Response overdue

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Mr Carruthers

REF NO: 1094.1.1

I refer to your email dated 29th September 2008, advising that you have
not yet received a response to your request.

Please accept my apologies for any delay that has occurred. Our records
appear to show that a response was sent to you on 11th September however,
it looks as though there may have been a technical error on the system.

I can confirm that Middlesbrough Council has completed its search for the
information you requested on 23rd August 2008, regarding functions of the
Council. The response to your request is detailed below and has been
provided by Mr Chris Davies, Members' Office Manager.

RESPONSE

In your request you raised a number of questions which I shall deal with
in turn.

Proportion of time elected Members spend on their duties

No record is kept, or information held by the Council, regarding the
allocation of time to the different roles that elected Members undertake.

Total paid to elected Members, and number thereof

Middlesbrough Council has 48 elected Members plus a directly elected
Mayor.

I attach as requested the allowances paid to each Councillor for each of
the three years that you have requested (2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008).

By way of explanation, the Council's financial year runs from 1 April to
31 March each year. The Municipal Year runs from the Annual Meeting of
the Council, held in May, to the following annual meeting. Members are
appointed to serve on Committees (etc) at the Annual Meeting. Elections
are also held in May.

For these reasons, some Members have only drawn a few weeks Special
Responsibilities Allowance from the beginning of the financial year to the
beginning of the Municipal Year, when they may have ceased to hold a post
that is remunerated by was of a Special Responsibility Allowance.
Similarly, in election years more than 48 members may be shown, due to
the fact that some Members will lose their seat at the May Elections and
others be elected.

So by way of example, looking at the 2007/8 spreadsheet attached,
Councillor B Brady and Councillor M T Booth each drew allowances from 1
April 2007 up until the Election in May 2007 when they lost their seats.
Councillors Brunton, Budd, Carr etc regained their seats and therefore
drew allowances for the full year. Councillors Hobson, Purvis and Rehman,
etc, were elected in May 2007 and therefore their allowances were paid
only from the date that they were elected.

Numbers of Complaints, and those considered by elected representatives

Middlesbrough Council has a three stage Corporate Complaints Procedure.
Stages 1 and 2 of the Complaints Procedure involve investigations by
Officers of the Council. Stage 3 of the Corporate Complaints Procedure is
a Committee of elected Members (Complaints & Appeals Committee). Stage 3
complaints that come within the legislation relating to both Children's
and Adults' Social Services are dealt with by an independent panel, which
does not include elected Members. Therefore, the only complaints that are
considered by elected Members are those that progress to Stage 3 of the
Corporate Complaints Procedures.

The information you require is therefore as follows:

All Complaints Stage 3 Complaints
2005/2006 316 1
2006/2007 342 1
2007/2008 458 5

How many complaints against the Executive led to Elected Members formally
identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly

I regret that I do not understand exactly what you're seeking with respect
to this question, and the question related to the number of staff who
cease to be employed by the Council as a result of a complaint against the
Executive. If you can let me have further information as to what you are
wanting, I will get back to you. If it would help, you can contact me by
telephone on 01642 729704 when we can try to clarify the exact nature of
this part of your request.

How much money the Council has paid to Complainants excluding Local
Government Ombudsman (etc) determinations

The information you request is as follows:

2005/2006 *nil
2006/2007 *nil
2007/2008 *3,900

Local settlements: findings of maladministration: etc

During the three years in question the amount of local settlements made
have been as follows:

2005/2006: *250
2006/2007: *500
2007/2008: *4,297

There have been no findings of maladministration against the Council in
the three years that relate to your request.

For the three years in question, all of the recommendations made by the
Ombudsman in respect of local settlement have been implemented in full.

Wherever the Council comes to a local settlement, this is paid from the
revenue budget of the department subject to the complaint.

Elected Members are not involved with Ombudsman complaints. This is
delegated to officers. Members do, however, receive an annual report
based on the Ombudsman Annual Letter which is sent to each local
authority.

Financial Cost of administering the Complaints system

I regret that I am unable to provide the information requested. The
reason for this is the way in which the Council administers the Corporate
Complaints system.

In Middlesbrough, each separate department is responsible for
administering complaints in accordance with procedural guidance and
minimum standards that are corporately set by the Council: the Corporate
Complaints Procedures.

I act as the Corporate Complaints Manager for the Council. My role is to
review and update the standards and procedures. One of my staff
administers the Corporate Complaints IT System which allows us to monitor
and ensure that the corporate standards are being complied with. Dealing
with complaints is only a relatively small part of our overall duties. We
do not record time spent on each individual activity that we undertake.

Within the service departments, complaints are initially investigated by
the Manager of the Service to which the complaint relates. This is the
Stage 1 - complaints resolution - stage of the procedures. If the
complainant remains dissatisfied, then a senior investigating officer is
appointed from a service area that does not have operational or budgetary
control of the service to which the complaint relates. Staff in service
departments do not record each activity they undertake.

It is therefore not possible to provide the information as requested, as
this is not held by the Council.

Total administrative costs and Chief Executives remuneration

You have asked for details of our "total administrative cost". I am not
sure what you are requesting here. Perhaps you could clarify the type of
administrative costs you are requesting.

The total number of staff employed by the Council at the date of preparing
this response (5/9/08) is 7,934

The Council has a policy not to identify the salary of any individual
member of staff. What we do supply is the salary scale on which an
individual is paid.

The Chief Executive is paid on a 4 point scale which is currently:
*124,902
*132,069
*139,239
*146,622

For each year you requested, the nationally agreed pay awards for Chief
Executives have been applied as follows:-
01.04.2005 2.95%
01.04.2006 2.95%
01.04.2007 2.475%
This is in addition to incremental progression on the 4 point scale shown
above.

The Chief Executive received no performance related payments.

The final paragraph of your request does not apply, as Middlesbrough
Council has a complaints system that is fully fit for purpose.

During 2007/2008, the Council received a total of 458 complaints. 33 of
these were not dealt with by way of the Complaints Procedures.

Of the complaints that were dealt with by way of the Complaints Procedures
and finalised during 2007/2008, 363 were resolved at Stage 1, 43
progressed to Stage 2, and 5 were progressed to Stage 3.

Of these, 236 complaints were fully upheld, 62 were partially upheld, 100
were not upheld, and 17 were either withdrawn or cancelled by the
complainant.

With the exception of the points where I have asked for further
clarification, I hope that the above response provides all the information
that you requested.

Please note that if we do not receive appropriate clarification on the
points listed in this response within three months from the date of this
email, then Middlesbrough Council will consider your request closed.

Please do not hesitate to contact me direct on (01642) 729696/729698 or
email foi@middlesbrough. gov.uk should you require any further advice or
assistance with this or any other matter.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled you may ask
for an internal review. You should write to
Chris Davies,
Corporate Complaints Manager,
PO Box 99A,
Town Hall,
Middlesbrough,
TS1 2QQ.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for an
independent review. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: -
Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Janette Anderson
Freedom of Information Officer

Members Office
P.O. Box 99A
Town Hall
Middlesbrough
TS1 2QQ

Tel. 01642 729696/729698

FAX. 01642 729882
email: [Middlesbrough Council request email]
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Dear Sir or Madam,

Glitch in software.. response received

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS