LGO investigations.

Trevor R Nunn made this Freedom of Information request to West Berkshire Council

The request was successful.

From: Trevor R Nunn

14 January 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

During the last five years how many times has the Local Government
Ombudsman (as a result of investigating a complaint against West
Berkshire Borough Council) brought to the attention of the council
the fact that a member of West Berkshire Borough Council staff had
misled them, lied to them or done anything else to hinder their
investigation. If they have what disciplinary action was taken
against the individual(s) concerned by the council.

Yours faithfully,

Trevor R Nunn

Link to this

From: Sue Broughton
West Berkshire Council

15 January 2009

Dear Mr Nunn,
I have checked the Ombudsman's annual letters to this Council for the past
five years and can confirm that this has not been raised as an issue. The
tenor of the letters in fact indicates the Ombudsman's satisfaction with
the Council's 'prompt and helpful responses' (Annual LGO letter 2007-8).

A copy of the most recent Ombudsman's letter and other performance
indicators can be found here:
[1]http://www.westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?a...

Yours sincerely

Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Policy & Communication
Council Offices
Market Street
Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD

Tel: 01635 519747
Email: [2][West Berkshire Council request email]

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

show quoted sections

Link to this

Trevor R Nunn left an annotation (13 August 2009)

I submitted this FOI request to every English Council. I have now collated the results and the full story can be read here

http://ombudsmanwatchers.org.uk/evidence...

Link to this

J A Giggins left an annotation (22 February 2010)

We are currently pursuing a planning complaint against West Berkshire Council via the LGO. I have the following points to make:-

The LGO designated liaison officer is the same officer who has responded to your request.

In our case, responses to LGO queries were not always made in a timely manner.

The queries themselves were not sufficient to provide an independent assessment of our complaint.

Moreover the LGO has relied on 'opinions' of the officers whose actions we are questioning. No 'independent' planning opinion has been sought and senior council officers have been very careful not to get involved.

Despite finding multiple instances of maladministration our case has been referred (against our wishes)back to the Council for 'local settlement' -the settlement (completely inadequate)having been agreed between the Council and the LGO officer.

There were no recommendations given to the Council regarding their maladministration.

Link to this

Trevor R Nunn left an annotation (23 February 2010)

Hi

Good luck with your complaint to local government ombudsman you will need it.

It is a well known fact that the local government ombudsmen always believe the officer whose actions you are questioning. They did exactly the same in both complaints I submitted. (1997 & 2002)

As soon as the local government ombudsman gets involved they make it quite clear to the council that they would be willing to close the complaint down if the council was to offer a local settlement. This is usually a few hundred pounds.

The complainant has no say in the matter it is agreed between the council and the local government ombudsman. Although your complaint of maladministration may be settled (against you wishes) they cannot stop you taking legal action for any infringement of your legal or human rights.

Although by definition any illegal act is maladministration not all maladministration is illegal. The local government ombudsmen very rarely explain to a complainant that they cannot determine an illegal act or human rights infringement by a council. All they can investigate and determine is the low level maladministration like delay and other such none illegal acts. Whilst they are doing this they usually turn a blind eye to anything outside their remit rather than get the appropriate body involved. See my other FOI requests for prove of that.

The recommendations of a local government ombudsman are worthless because councils can and do ignore them with impunity.

Your chances of getting the local government ombudsman to believe you rather than a council officer are practically zero. See this FOI research.

http://ombudsmanwatchers.org.uk/evidence...

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
West Berkshire Council only: