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Dear Stuart

Thank you for your email. I have sent your request to the relevant officer and you should receive a reply within 20 working days.

Regards
Katherine Pryor
Democratic Services
Winchester City Council
City Offices, Colebrook Street
Winchester, SO23 9LJ
Tel: 01962 848264 Ext:2264
Fax: 01962 848472
Email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information request from Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know

Request

1. the average proportion of time the elected representatives
of your authority spend as part of their duties for

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 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.

Response

Whilst we do not have information broken down into the specific categories
requested, a survey of Members was undertaken in 2006 for the Members
Allowances Independent Remuneration Panel, in which Members estimated that
they spent an average of 14 hours per week on Council business. Those
Members who occupy positions of special responsibility will work more
hours, varying with the nature of the individual roles.

Request

2. 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 2007/2008 by your authority, and

Response

a) 2005/2006,

Basic Allowances: £306,124

Special Allowances: £117,720

Travel & Subsistence: £12,042

b) 2006/2007

Basic Allowances: £312,563

Special Allowances: £104,712

Travel & Subsistence: £12,917

c) 2007/2008 by your authority, and

Basic Allowances: £317,811

Special Allowances: £104,822

Travel & Subsistence: £12,893

Request

3. how many elected representatives are (and were) represented
on your authority for these years

Response

57.

Request

4. I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 2007/2008 for each year.

Response

The Council is working to improve its system for capturing information
from complaints, with a Council wide system due to be introduced from
October 2008. The figures given in responses below are the best available
but it is recognised that they may not be fully comprehensive.

2005/2006: 30 complaints through the Ombudsman; 841 general complaints

2006/2007: 27 complaints through the Ombudsman; 785 general complaints
2007/2008: 21 complaints through the Ombudsman; 950 general complaints
(including 399 missed bins - a figure that had not been reported in
previous years.)

The figures for 2007/2008 are set against a year when there has been
better recording and evaluation of these statistics in preparation for the
complaints database system that has enabled us to distinguish between
letters of complaint and those making comment about services which have
been included in complaints statistics in previous years.

Request

5. I would further like to know how many of these complaints
were formally considered by an elected representative for each of these
years.

Response

The Council does not keep information that would let it know how many of
these complaints had been discussed with or referred to an elected Member
by the complainant or discussed with an elected Member before a response
was sent.

The Council does not formally refer individual complaints to elected
representatives as part of its agreed process for dealing with
complaints. An annual report providing an overview of complaints received
is referred to the Council's Principal Scrutiny Committee each year.
Copies of these can be found on the Council's website
([1]www.winchester.gov.uk)

Request

6. 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

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 2007/2008, and

7. how many of these formal determinations by the elected
representatives identify that there was no wrong-doing by the Executive.

Response

As indicated above, the Council's system for dealing with complaints does
not include reference to elected representatives.

8. How many staff employed by your authority in

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 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.

Response

None

9. 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

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 2007/2008.

Response

Division Amount
Access & Infrastructure Nothing
Building Control Nothing
Cultural Services Nothing
Customer Service Centre Nothing
Democratic Services Nothing
Environment Nothing
Estates Figures not recorded in 2005/06, 2006/07 and
first months of 2007/08. £1,403.45 in rest
of 2007/08
Finance Nothing
HR Nothing
IMT Nothing
Landlord Services None, other than those with the intervention
of the ombudsman, insurers or courts
Legal Nothing
Partnerships & Communications Nothing
Performance & Scrutiny Nothing
Planning DC 05/06 £1,500; 06/07 £750
Revenues Nothing
Strategic Housing No system to capture information - no
recollection of payments.
Strategic Planning Nothing

Request

10. 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

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 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.

Response

2005/2006 - £1000.

2006/2007 - £100

2007/2008 - £830

The Council has sought to comply with the Ombudsman's recommendation on
all occasions. The figure for 2005/06 was for remedial works to a
disabled shower facility. However repeated efforts by Council's
contractors to gain access to the property over an extended period and do
the work met with no response. Following discussions with the Ombudsman
and on his advice the Council had no option but to close the case without
carrying out the work.

Request

11. Please additionally identify if these costs were met directly
by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding self insurance
by a Council)

Response

All costs referred to above were met from the Council's budgets and not
from insurance payments. The Council's budgets are only partly funded
through Council Tax payments and it is not possible to identify what
proportion of these costs was met `directly by Council Tax payers' as
opposed to other sources of income.

12. Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by the
Executive for

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 2007/2008 and

d) the number of staff employed in administering complaints and
resolving these (Full time equivalent staffing levels).

Response

No information available but see response to Q4

13. Please also provide details of your total administrative costs
for

a) 2005/2006,

b) 2006/2007 and

c) 2007/2008 and

Response

No information available but see response to Q4

14. the total number of staff employed by your authority,

Response

458.76 full time equivalents or 535 headcount

15. 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.

Response

The Chief Executive is paid on a scale which involves annual incremental
progression. The range of the scale is from £79,404 to £92,208 with 6
increments within the scale.

16. Please additionally identify if the Chief Executives wages
included performance related payments.

Response

The Council does not operate a Performance Related Pay Scheme.

Request

17. 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.

Response

The responses above demonstrate that the Council does hold much of the
information you request. The Council has acknowledged a need to improve
the quality of information on complaints and complaint handling and is in
the process of introducing a new system designed to do this. The requests
below have been answered for completeness.

18. If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please

Request

a) identify which political party currently controls your
Council

Response

The Conservative Party has controlled the Council since May 2006

Request

b) 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).

Response

Political parties do not appoint the Electoral Registration Officer and
Returning Officer. The appointments are confirmed by Council and this was
last done in 2003.

Request

c) Please name the current Electoral Registration and
Returning Officer, and

Response

Stephen Whetnall, Corporate Director (Governance)

Request

d) identify if they are also Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to
your Authority.

Response

No - The Chief Executive is the Head of Paid Service and there is no "Town
Clerk"

Request

e) 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.

Response

The Council recognises the need to improve its current system for
monitoring and learning from complaints. This is publically acknowledged
in its Annual Governance Statement 2007/08 which is available on the
Council's website.

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References

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1. http://www.winchester.gov.uk/