Dear Sir or Madam,

I would appreciate copies of all monitoring officer reports issued
by the Bournemouth Borough Council following admission and or
agreement by the Bournemouth Borough Council that they had
committed maladministration causing injustice, as evidenced through
an local settlement agreed with the Local Government Ombudsman, as
well as any monitoring officer report produced following a formal
finding of maladministration and injustice by the Local Government
Ombudsman for the last six years.

If a monitoring officer report has not been produced in relation to
each individual settlement, I should appreciate clarification if
the Council rejected both the Ombudsman's findings and their
recommendations in relation to each local settlement agreed, and
copies of all associated documentation for the last six years.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Dear Mr Carruthers,

Information Request - Freedom of Information Act

I am writing to acknowledge your request for information received on 4th
September 2008.

We are dealing with your request and will be in contact with you again.

In most cases we will reply within 20 working days. If, for any reason,
this is not possible we will let you know.

Yours sincerely

Tom Payne
Assistant Information Compliance Officer
Law & Governance

Telephone: 01202 451179
Email: [email address]
Fax: 01202 451001

Please save paper and only print what is necessary

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Carruthers,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request received yesterday.

I have spoken with the Council's Monitoring Officer and can confirm that
no reports have been issued. The Council therefore holds no recorded
information.

I can supply the attached Ombudsman's Annual Letter, which is a public
document. It contains the statistics for the last 3 years for
complaints including Maladministration. As you can see from the attached
the LGO has found no cases of maladministration for the last 3 years.
The explanatory notes describe what the statistics mean. In line with
our retention and destruction policy we only retain complaints files for
3 years.

It may be helpful for you to note that if any such reports are produced
these would be made available in Council Meetings and as such would be
publicly available on the Council's website at the following link:
http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/main/Minut...

If you are dissatisfied with this response you can ask for a review,
which will be dealt with through the Council's complaints procedure.
Details of the complaints procedure can be found at
http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Residents/....

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council's review you
have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner's
Office. Contact details for the Information Commissioner can be found
at:

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
<http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/>

Yours sincerely,

Tom Payne
Assistant Information Compliance Officer
Law & Governance

Telephone: 01202 451179
Email: [email address]
<mailto:[email address]>
Fax: 01202 451001

Please save paper and only print what is necessary

show quoted sections

Dear Thomas Payne,

It states very clearly in s6 of the Local Government and Housing
Act, 1989 that:

(2) It shall be the duty of a relevant authority's monitoring
officer, if it at any time appears to him that any proposal,
decision or omission by the authority, by any committee,
sub-committee or officer of the authority or by any joint committee
on which the authority are represented constitutes, has given rise
to or is likely to or would give rise to—

(a) a contravention by the authority, by any committee,
sub-committee or officer of the authority or by any such joint
committee of any enactment or rule of law or of any code of
practice made or approved by or under any enactment; or

(b) any such maladministration or injustice as is mentioned in Part
III of the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974 (Local
Commissioners) or Part II of the [1975 c. 30.] Local Government
(Scotland) Act 1975 (which makes corresponding provision for
Scotland), to prepare a report to the authority with respect to
that proposal, decision or omission.

(3) It shall be the duty of a relevant authority's monitoring
officer—

(a) in preparing a report under this section to consult so far as
practicable with the head of the authority's paid service and with
their chief finance officer; and

(b) as soon as practicable after such a report has been prepared by
him or his deputy, to arrange for a copy of it to be sent to each
member of the authority.

Over the last two years there have been 12 local settlements agreed
between the Bournemouth Council and the Local Government Ombudsman
following an Investigation into a complaint. Are you seriously
stating that of those 12 complaints that the Council's monitoring
officer was able to identify no administrative fault or injustice
in the acts of the Council, despite the Council admitting these.

For instance in 2007 the Council made payments of about £16,000 in
relation to Local Settlements and apparently apologised
unreservedly to the complaints. The acts of the Council appear to
be at variance with the opinion of the Monitoring Officer - could I
suggest that they check their files - and that they identify
additionally how many monitoring officer reports they have failed
to issue in relation to findings of maladministration and injustice
agreed between the LGO and Council (for the specified period of six
years) where the LGO agreed with the Council that a formal MI
report was not needed, as the Council itself had made the required
admissions. The Council has both paid money and apologised - a
report must be in existence, or the Monitoring Officer has failed
in their duties, as has the Head of Paid Service and s151 Officer
(if consulted by the Monitoring Officer)

It is additionally my understanding that all complaint files that
have been subject to an investigation (even if discontinued) are
required to be kept open and easily accessible for at least ten
years, and that statistical reports need to be kept open and easily
accessible for at least five years. Could I again suggest that the
Council check its files.

Under the local government act 1972 it states that:

2. — (1) For every [F1non-metropolitan] county there shall be a
council consisting of a chairman and councillors and the council
shall have all such functions as are vested in them by this Act or
otherwise.

(2) For every district there shall be a council consisting of a
chairman and councillors and the council shall have all such
functions as are vested in them by this Act or otherwise. [F2(2A)
Where a council mentioned in subsection (1) or

(2) above are operating executive arrangements which involve a
mayor and cabinet executive or a mayor and council manager
executive, the council shall consist of an elected mayor, a
chairman and councillors.]

(3) Each council mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) above shall be
a body corporate by the name “The County Council” or “The District
Council”, as the case may be, with the addition of the name of the
particular county or district.

It is not believed that the Council (if they have as required by
law elected a local returning officer and electoral registration
officer [refer to s6 of the Local Government Act 1972], and with
legal advisers that owe both the Council and their constituents a
duty of care) would allow the Council's monitoring officer to
disregard their statutory duties.

It is also clear that the Council's complaints system and the
administration of this appears to be subject to defective records
management.

Internal review is requested, and I expect the information
requested to be provided, and/or identification in writing of each
failure of the Monitoring Officer in relation to agreements entered
into by the Council with the LGO (for the specified period - six
years), and how the Council intend to resolve these errors. The
Council might additionally wish to identify that there are problems
with its internal workings, and that these cause both
maladministration and injustice, as well as problems with the FoI
Act.

[personal remark deleted]

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers