maladministration records

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide copies of all data related to a finding of
maladministration (includng local settlement) against a Council
held by the Audit Commission (for all English Council's) and
identified to exist at this site
http://piprofiles.audit-commission.gov.uk for the last four years.
Please additionally identify all guidance provided to interpret the
data (including validation and verification).

A spreadsheet would be nice.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Gary Shipsey,

The following is contained in another successful FOI request to
Luton Council.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/lo...

"I am able to supply Ombudsman's letters for the last 3 years
<<ombudsman Annual Letter 2007-8.tif>> <<LGO Annual letter to LBC
2006-07.pdf>> <<ombudsman Annual Letter 2005-6.tif>>
You should contact the Ombudsman's Office for previous years.

Similarly I can provide the following information for the past 4
years from a passworded Audit Commission webpage
Extract from Audit Commission website
http://piprofiles.audit-commission.gov.u...

This takes you to:
http://extranetportal.audit-commission.g...(S(ee1tgaqgpk514u55k5kt2iet))/Homepage.aspx

Complaints
Complaints to the local government ombudsman
During 2007/08, the Local Government Ombudsman received 57
complaints relating to the council, compared to 42 in the previous
year and of those complaints received in 2007/08 7 were dealt with
by local settlement.
Context : Ombudsman: Total complaints received
Comparison group: All Authorities
Year This Authority Increasing / Decreasing Quartile Position
Lowest 25% Median Highest 25%
2004/05 41 2 18 28 51
2005/06 45 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 2 16 28 52
2006/07 42 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 2 16 27 51
2007/08 57 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 1 15 25 49
Context : Ombudsman: Decisions with maladministration
Year This Authority Increasing / Decreasing Regional Average
National Average
2004/05 0 0 0
2005/06 0 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 0 0
2006/07 0 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 0 0
2007/08 0 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 0 0

There are few doubts that it is statistical information that is
held by the Audit Commission. This has already been asserted to by
a member of the Local Government Association ['LGA'].

Obviously, it could be that Audit Commission are linking their
extranet and have entered into a contract with another organisation
to supply the data. In this instance I would anticipate that you
are possibly identifying that the Audit Commission have a contract
with the Local Government Association (LGA) the organisation that
represents Council's.

I would doubt that the Audit Commission would place much faith in
the LGA as it is responsible for auditing the Council's that it
represents.

The Local Government Ombudsman's (LGO) determinations as you are
aware are determinations by the Crown.. and the Government only
acts for the Crown. I would anticipate that this an unclosed
complaint (and a remedy not being provided) has considerable
implications for the government in being able to support a Council
that fails to provide a remedy.

The issue is that in 2007/2008 the LGO determined that there were
nine instances of maladministration by Luton Council (and this is
published in both their report and in their annual letter to the
Council) and yet in the information that Luton Council identifies
is from the Audit Commission this is reported as only seven.

Data matching of the records held by Council's and the LGO over the
last ten years identifies that the Council's hold 50 per cent fewer
records of determinations of formal findings of maladministration
(and associated injustice than the LGO) (full details available,
and already supplied to the Commission for Local Administration in
England).

Obviously if the Local Government Association and/or the Audit
Commission are substituting the records of the LGO determintations
of maladministration (and seeking to have these under reported) to
allow grant payments to be made by government to Council's (despite
the Crown identifying the Council's are maladministrators) this
raises serious issues.. and can effectively only be identified
through data matching. I would further anticipate that the
Government on the advice of the Audit Commission will not be
releasing any grant aid in particular to Trafford Council until
they 'clear up their' acts of maladministration and provide a
remedy.

Luton Council a member of the LGA state that the Audit Commission
holds the data. The Luton Council have also identified very
unambiguously that the Audit Commission data is different to the
LGO's. Obviously if the Audit Commission don't hold the data it
must come from somewhere, and a contractual arrangement must have
been entered into to enable the data sharing - a copy is requested.
Otherwise a full copy of the dataset (including full field
descriptions) covering all English Local Authorities that a member
of the Local Government Association asserts the Audit Commission
holds.

This will enable it to be identified if the Audit Commission or a
third party are knowingly seeking to change the words [in the King
James Bible] of our most protestant majesty and her servants

Yours sincerely

Stuart Hardwick Carruthers

Dear Gary Shipsey,

Many thanks for your clarification. however, the LGO only publishes
data for a single year. A copy of the dataset is requested as
already identified - as this could explain why Local Authorities
have systematically reported both findings of maladministration
causing injustice and other findings of the LGO against themselves
in FoI requests.

The issues don't particularly relate to the Audit Commission,
unless it is supporting misreporting by local government. They do
relate very significantly to audited bodies and their capacity to
meet quite a number of requirements. The issue and cause of the
problem (if there is one) should be relatively easily identifiable
through data matching.

It is already very apparrant that local authorities have been
making up their maladministration findings - and that they are
different to the LGO's.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Gary Shipsey,

There is only one years data included. Luton very clearly identify
that the Audit Commission hold four years data.

The 2007/2008 data was wrongly entered for Luton that is already
admitted by Audit Commission (and if directly taken from the LGO
spreadsheets) this would have been impossible.

Please identify where the other three years data is.. that Luton
state is held by the Audit Commission. It is clearly identified by
Luton that the Audit Commission hold additional data.. there are
discrepencies with this data as well.

"2004/05
41 2 18 28 51 2005/06 45 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 2 16 28 52 2006/07
42 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 2 16 27 51 2007/08 57 <<Picture
(Metafile)>> 1 15 25 49 Context : Ombudsman: Decisions with
maladministration Year This Authority Increasing / Decreasing
Regional Average National Average 2004/05 0 0 0 2005/06 0 <<Picture
(Metafile)>> 0 0 2006/07 0 <<Picture (Metafile)>> 0 0 2007/08 0
<<Picture (Metafile)>> 0 0"

Please supply the information that it is clearly identified that
the Audit Commission hold and the date of any ammendments to the
data.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Gary Shipsey,

There are four years. When it opened only one year was displayed.
Have found the rest, after same playing with formatting. many
thanks. complete compliance.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS