functions council

Good Afternoon,

Your email as been forwarded to the relevant department for attention.

Kind regards
Carol Jackson
Gateway Customer Services Advisor
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Town Hall
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1RS
Tel: 01892 526121
Email: [email address]
Website: www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online Customer Satisfaction Survey - www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/feedback

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Dear Mr Hardwicke Carruthers

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. I acknowledge receipt and confirm that we will respond to your request within twenty working days.

In the meantime, if you have any further queries regarding our Freedom of Information procedures you can contact me on 01892 554077 or via e-mail to [email address] .

Kind regards
Ingrid

Ingrid Weatherup
Customer Care Manager
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Tel: 01892 554077
e-mail: [email address]

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online Customer Satisfaction survey - http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/feedback

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Dear Mr Hardwick Carruthers

I am writing further to your Freedom of Information request. Please
find detailed below a response to the queries you have raised:

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.

With regard to your request for information on time spent on main
activities, regrettably this information is not available as it is not
data which the Council collects. However, each member is provided with a
'role description and competencies', full details of which can be viewed
on the Council's website under 'Constitution', Part 6.

[1]http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/section...

Our Partnership Manager for Member Training and Development provides a
support role for members to help them achieve the competency level judged
appropriate for good governance. (A similar set of role descriptions
exists for the Leader of the Council, for Cabinet members and for Chairmen
of committees.)

I have also attached a list of which members sit on which committees, to
give you an idea of their role in the decision-making process.

<<Boards Committees 2008-2009.doc>>

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.

As requested, please find details of the amounts paid to members under our
agreed scheme, for the three years requested.

<<Members Allowances 0506.XLS>> <<Members Allowances 0607.XLS>>
<<Members Allowances 0708.xls>>

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.

2005-2006

269

2006-2007

220

2007-2008

277

The Council operates a three stage Complaints Procedure and complaints are
dealt with at Stage 1 by the Service, at Stage 2 by the Head of Service or
Director and by the Chief Executive at Stage 3. I attach a link to our
website for further details on our Complaints Procedure:

[2]http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/section...

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 can confirm that no members of Council staff ceased to be employed by
the Council as a direct
result of a complaint made against the Council for the period stated
above.

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.

The total amount of compensation payments paid to complainants during
2007/2008 under the Complaints
Procedure was £7425. The Council does not hold figures for the total
amounts paid for 2006-2007 and 2005-2006.

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)

The Local Government Ombudsman made one recommendation for a Local
Settlement for 2007-2008. There were no Local Settlements recommended for
2005 -2006 and 2006 - 2007. The recommendation for the Local Settlement
in 2007 - 2008 was met in full and the cost was met from existing budgets.

2005 - 2006 0
2006 -2007 0
2007 -2008 1 Local Settlement (Financial recommendation £2500)

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.

The Council employs one member of staff to oversee complaints handling and
Freedom of Information Requests. However, each Directorate deals with
complaints at Stages 1 and 2 of our Complaints Procedure and it is
therefore not possible to provide a breakdown of the costs incurred by
each service in administering complaints.

Please find detailed below the total number of staff employed by the
authority:

At 31/1/2008 412
At 31/12/2007 411
At 31/12/2006 408
At 31/12/2005 426

I am currently awaiting details of any pay increase made to the Council's
Chief Executive and I will be in contact with you shortly regarding this.

I can confirm that the Council does have a Complaints system which is fit
for purpose.

The Political Party in control is the Conservative Group.

The current Electoral Registration and Returning Officer is the Chief
Executive, Sheila Wheeler.

I hope this information is helpful. If you are dissatisfied with the
information provided or the way in which we have dealt with your request,
you can make a complaint under the Council's Complaints Procedure. Please
write to William Benson, Director of Change and Business Support, at
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent,
TN1 1RS or via e-mail to [email address] requesting a
review of the decision. You can find details of our Complaints Procedure
on our website at www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk .

We will aim to deal with your complaint within 20 working days. If you
remain dissatisfied following our review, you can then appeal to the
Information Commissioner:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545745
www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Ingrid Weatherup
Customer Care Manager
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
Tel: 01892 554077
e-mail: [email address]

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online Customer
Satisfaction survey - [3]http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/feedback

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