Single point of contact etc

James Murray made this Freedom of Information request to West Lindsey District Council

The request was refused by West Lindsey District Council.

From: James Murray

17 March 2010

Dear West Lindsey District Council,

Kindly help with the following :

1. Which official/s (?) decides which CT payer should be sentenced
to the 'single point of contact' procedure.

2.Please produce documents outlining your policy and procedure re
the application of this measure.

3.In what way is the victim of the procedure informed of the
'sentence' ie. length/ duration and what provision is made for
appeal against the sentence.

4. Kindly explain why a CT payer having sent an email
to your council on a matter of considerable gravity and urgency
received a response indicating that the respondent was 'out of the
office' when clearly this was untruthful, as the person was
actually in the office at the time.
Given that this blatant dishonesty reflects very badly on a council
which already has a deplorable record of deceit, delay, evasion and
obfuscation, will an apology and offer of amends be made?

Yours faithfully,

James Murray

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West Lindsey District Council

17 March 2010

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting West Lindsey District Council.

Your message reference is: B4ba13f5a0000.000000000001.0002.mml

Please quote this reference if you need to contact us again regarding this matter.

You can expect a response from us within 1 working day.

Thank you

Customer Services Team

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James Murray left an annotation (18 March 2010)

This request is connected to the disabuse of council tax payers by the outgone Chief Executive D. Sharkey.
He was asked before three witnesses in December 2008, how many persons (CT payers) he had sentenced to the 'single point of contact' treatment and he replied unequiivocally 'One'.This was blatantly untrue as two of the witnesses personally knew more than one.

Sharkey has now gone, leaving behind a morally corrupt council with a culture of deceit and dishonesty ( and an unexplained debt of 7 million pounds), exemplified by the recent episode in which a CT payer (victim of the 'single point of contact'treatment) sent an urgent email to WLDC and received a reply that the 'contact was "out of the office". The contact was actually in the office.No apology has been offered.
The public deserves better than this shameless blatant
untruthfulness. This disgraceful behaviour is standard procedure by WLDC officials.

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From: FOI
West Lindsey District Council

22 March 2010

Dear whatdotheyknow team

Although West Lindsey's Customer Service system has generated an
automated response to Mr Murray's Freedom of Information Request, they
do not have the request on their system. I printed the request from
your site but do not have your official request number and address to
send the FOI Team's acknowledgement.

Please could you attach this email to the appropriate request and let me
have the correct emailing address for our response.

FOI Office

West Lindsey District Council

Marshall's Yard

Gainsborough

Lincolnshire

DN21 2NA

Dear Mr Murray

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request No. 830

Re: Single Point of Contact Procedure

Thank you for your request for information received on 17 March 2010.

Your request is now being considered and you will receive the
information within the statutory 20 working days, as defined by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to the information not being
exempt or containing a reference to a third party.

The expiry date for a response to this request is 16 April 2010.

Yours sincerely

FOI Office

West Lindsey District Council

Marshall's Yard

Gainsborough

Lincolnshire

DN21 2NA

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*** DISCLAIMER **** The information transmitted is intended only for
the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission,
dissemination or other use, or taking of any action in reliance upon
this information by persons or entities other than the intended
recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact
the sender and delete the material from your computer. Any
correspondence with the sender will be subject to automatic monitoring.

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Richard Taylor left an annotation (23 March 2010)

The above message has been redirected to this thread by the WhatDoTheyKnow team.

--

Richard - WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer

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From: James Murray

11 April 2010

Dear FOI,

Kindly provide the information requested.

Yours sincerely,

James Murray

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James Murray left an annotation (13 April 2010)

A Council tax payer who has been subject to single point of contact by WLDC was informed by letter on 7th April 2010 that he would 'continue to be restricted' on the grounds that 1. he had accused a WLDC employee of dishonesty and 2. that 'language used in emails was unacceptable'.

With respect to reason 1. the circumstances were as follows : an email was sent to a specific person in WLDC(notorious for delay, evasion and obfuscation tactics). a reply indicated that the person was 'out of office' ...it transpired that this was untrue.
When this was pointed out to WLDC this was given as a reason for extending the 'single point of contact' and to accuse the council tax payer 2. of using unacceptable language, thus causing deep offence to the CT payer who is a reputable published author and broadcaster.

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From: James Murray

15 April 2010

Dear West Lindsey District Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews. I request a review for the following reasons :

I am writing to request an internal review of West Lindsey District
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Single point of contact etc'
because to date I have had no satissfactory answer.

Receipt is acknowledged of your paper copy of a letter dd 12th
April in which you answer my points 1 & 2.
However, you fail to answer my request to know what
appeal (if any) is available to a person sentenced to your SPC, and
what procedure is in place for a sentenced person to be heard..

You claim that my 4th point was dealt with 'in [your]
previous letter.

Reasons above

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/si...

Yours faithfully,

James Murray

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West Lindsey District Council

15 April 2010

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting West Lindsey District Council.

Your message reference is: B4bc701100000.000000000001.0002.mml

Please quote this reference if you need to contact us again regarding this matter.

You can expect a response from us within 1 working day.

Thank you

Customer Services Team

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James Murray left an annotation (15 April 2010)

1. WLDC states now that decision (presumably re SPOC) are made by Revenues Benefits and Customer Services Manager. In which case why was the writer sentenced to the punishment more than three years ago by the former CE of WLDC who turned out to be an unscrupulous and less than truthful person. [See previous entries on this site].
2. An ill-thought out and hurriedly badly drafted
so-called 'Difficult /Dangerous Customer Protocol'
purported to answer my Q,2.It does no such thing and will be the subject of later FOI requests.

3.This 'protocol', which has suddenly appeared, states that 'Notification......including SPC is sent in writing.'

4. My question relating to the apparent dishonesty of a WLDC employee has not been answered.

Link to this

From: FOI
West Lindsey District Council

7 May 2010

Attachment FOI 830 let 070510.pdf
535K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Murray,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request No.830

Re: Single Point of Contact

Please find attached response to your email of 15 April 2010.

Yours sincerely

FOI Office

West Lindsey District Council

Guildhall

Marshalls Yard

GAINSBOROUGH

Lincs DN21 2NA

show quoted sections

*** DISCLAIMER **** The information transmitted is intended only for the
person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential
and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or
other use, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by
persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If
you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the
material from your computer. Any correspondence with the sender will be
subject to automatic monitoring.

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
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