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Paul Swift made this Freedom of Information request to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
The request was successful.
From: Paul Swift
24 June 2010
Dear Sandwell Borough Council,
Could you please tell me if any Councillors in the Borough, in the
past, have had funding for Laptops or Personal Computers for the
sole purpose of conducting Council business.
If so, could you please let me have the names of each councillor,
the amount of funding each councillor has received and how much
they are getting in allowances for internet connection
Yours faithfully,
Paul Swift
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
24 June 2010
Thank you for contacting Sandwell Council.
Your request has been passed to the relevant service area, who will contact you shortly.
Please quote your reference number INT1-107658836 on all future correspondence.
Regards
Corporate Contact Centre
Customer Services
Transform Sandwell
www.sandwell.gov.uk
show quoted sections
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
30 June 2010
Please find attached a letter from Sandwell Council in response to your recent contact.
This letter will advise you of the timescales for response and will provide our contact details should you need to get in touch.
If you cannot open the attachment please download the FREE adobe reader that can be found at www.adobe.com
Please do not reply to this e-mail but instead use the contact details found in the letter.
From: Paul Swift
30 June 2010
Dear Sandwell Borough Council,
Many thanks for your acknowledgement.
I would like to point out that you should have answers to my
questions by the 23rd July not the 27th July
Yours faithfully,
Paul Swift
From: Lindsey Rogers
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
8 July 2010
Dear Mr Swift
Please find attached letter and enclosures in respect of your recent
Freedom of Information enquiry relating to Councillors ICT and broadband
allowance.
Regards
Lindsey Rogers
Governance Services Manager (Members)
From: Paul Swift
8 July 2010
Dear Lindsey Rogers,
Many thanks for this information.
I find it surprising that there are Councillors on the list who
have been donated the Laptops and /or who are also getting paid
£15.00 per month for the broadband connection can't even be
bothered to answer emails sent to them by their constituents
I have had the opportunity to email 2 councillors 5 weeks ago and
not one has bothered to answer my emails.
Could you now please tell me who I need to report the abuse of
Council funding by the said Councillors to please.
Could you also tell me if there has been any other complaints or
investigations and findings into the abuse of the Laptops and
Broadband contributions and lack of answers to emails
Yours sincerely,
Paul Swift
From: Lindsey Rogers
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
9 July 2010
Dear Mr Swift
I am sorry that you have been unable to get a response when sending emails to one or more of Sandwell Councillors. All Councillors use a variety of communication tools to stay in touch and support their constituents, with some using emails on a more frequent basis than others. There are no laid down minimum standards regarding the frequency that they should use Council provided equipment or services, however I know that in my experience Councillors would all endeavour to respond to reasonable constituent enquiries on a regular basis.
My Unit, Members Services, supports Councillors in their variety of roles and if you would like us to contact a Councillor on your behalf with a particular issue I will of course do so. It is difficult to comment on why you might have had difficulties in this particular instance and if you would like me to check you have the correct contact details then I can do so.
As far as I am aware whilst occasional difficulties occur due to Councillors being on holiday or out of contact due to emergencies such as illnesses then Sandwell does not have a problem with constituents being unable to get in touch with their Councillors.
With regards to your particular question about who you should contact to complain about the above, then the Council's Monitoring Officer is Neeraj Sharma and she investigates complaints against Councillors. Neeraj Sharma is Head of Legal Services and can be contacted by email at [email address]
Lindsey Rogers
Governance Services Manager (Members)
show quoted sections
From: Paul Swift
9 July 2010
Dear Lindsey Rogers,
Many thanks for your response and your offer to help the
councillors.
My point is that these 2 councillors are getting Council funding
for internet connection plus the loan of a laptop for the SOLE
purpose of communicating with their constituents and if they are
not answering emails by people like myself then they are getting
this money on false pretences.
I am now wondering if more councillors are ignoring their emails
but still taking the cash
I shouldn't have to go through someone else to communicate with
these elected councillors, they should give me the courtesy of a
reply themselves.
I have only ever used email to contact councillors twice and twice
I didn't get a reply.
I have contacted, via email again, the same councillors and AGAIN I
have had no reply so I will now raise a complaint with the council
to investigate these 2 councillors in full.
The 2 councillors mentioned have also got Sandwell Council Web
Pages, which I suppose the web build and upkeep is AGAIN paid for
out of council coffers.
I am really annoyed, especially in these times where we hear of
cutbacks that Councillors expenses seems to be ring fenced and they
can carry on getting these expenses willy nilly for things like
internet connection where all they seem to be doing is pocketing
the cash
Yours sincerely,
Paul Swift
From: Lindsey Rogers
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
12 July 2010
Dear Mr Swift
Once again I can only apologise on behalf of the Council and offer you alternative contact details for Councillors should you wish to telephone.
If you do decide that you wish to proceed with a complaint then please contact the Monitoring Officer as detailed in our previous correspondence.
Lindsey Rogers
Governance Services Manager (Members)
show quoted sections
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