Local Government Ombudsman

Dear Mrs Johnson

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 25/08/2008.

Section 10(1) of the Freedom of Information Act requires that we process your application within 20 working days of the date we received your request, therefore we will respond to you by 23/09/2008. If we are unable to meet this deadline we will inform
you of this and the reasons why.

If the information is already available to you through the Council’s publication scheme we will advise you of this. We will advise you whether we hold the information you have requested and if you are able to access it. In some cases where exclusions apply we will not be able to provide you with the information you have requested. If we are unable to provide the information you request we will contact you and inform you of the reasons why.

In some cases there may be a charge for the information you have requested. We will keep charges to a minimum and will inform you as soon as possible of any charges that apply.

If you are unhappy with the Council’s decision you can make a complaint via the Council's complaints procedures and this will be looked into. If you are not happy with this decision you may then appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Regards

Rachael Steel
Information Management Officer
Tel: 01375 652592
Email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Mrs Johnson
Re: Freedom of Information Request (924)
Thank you for your request for the following information:

a) how many findings of maladministration the local government
ombudsman has made against your council over the last 10 years.

b) how many findings of maladministration your council, either in
full or in part, has refused to accept.

c) how many findings of maladministration your council has
accepted but refused to comply, either in full or in part, with the local
government ombudsman's recommended remedy.

The information below has been supplied in response to your letter for the
above mentioned information. We hope the information supplied satisfies
your original request.

A) There have been 3 cases the LGO has recorded of
Maladministration against the Council in the last six years. We only hold
complaints information for six years in accordance with our
Document Retention Policy. Information over six years has been destroyed
securely and confidentially.

The details are as follows:
07/08 = 0, 06/07 = 1, 05/06 = 0, 04/05 = 0, 03/04 = 0, 02/03 = 2.

B) & C) the 06/07 complaint the Council accepted the findings.
Unfortunately for the two 02/03 complaints we are still searching
records within the Council in order to provide a response to you. If
we do manage to identify such records we will of course notify you.

If you are unhappy with the Council's decision you can make a complaint
via the Council's complaints procedures and this will be looked into. If
you are not happy with this decision you may then appeal to the
Information Commissioner.

Information supplied in response to your request is the copyright of
Thurrock Council. The information has been supplied for your personal
use. Except for permitted acts under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, the information supplied may not be copied, distributed,
published, or exploited for commercial purposes or financial gain without
the explicit written consent of Thurrock Council.

Regards,

Rachael Steel
Information Management Officer
Tel: 01375 652592
Email: [email address]

The information in this e-mail and any attachment(s) are intended to be
confidential and may be legally privileged. Access to and use of its
content by anyone else other than the addressee(s) may be unlawful and
will not be recognised by Thurrock Council for business purposes. If you
have received this message by mistake, please notify the sender
immediately, delete it and do not copy it to anyone else. Thurrock Council
cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of this
message as it has been transmitted over a public network.

Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of Thurrock Council.

Any attachment(s) to this message has been checked for viruses, but please
rely on your own virus checker and procedures.

Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that under the UK Data
Protection and Freedom of Information legislation these contents may have
to be disclosed in response to a request.

All e-mail sent to or from this address will be processed by Thurrock
Council's corporate e-mail system and may be subject to scrutiny by
someone other than the addressee.

show quoted sections