Bullying and harassment

The request was successful.

Dear Sir or Madam,

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I would like to know how many employees of the city council have been absent from work due to either stress, anxiety, depression or any combination of those ailments between 1st August 2004 and 31st July 2008.

Please also confirm how many complaints of bullying have been made by employees of the council against managers or colleagues during the same period.

Please confirm how many employees have claimed constructive dismissal within the same period.

Please confirm how many claims have been filed against the city council at the Employment Tribunal within the same period.

I would ask that you remember the statutory duty imposed upon public authorities by virtue of Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act to provide advice and assistance to requesters. If for any reason you are leaning toward rejecting any part of this request or if you plan to argue that it is unmanageable or unanswerable in any way then I would expect you to contact me promptly to find ways to answer this request to our mutual satisfaction.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Gradwick

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Thank you for your e-mail.

This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry.

We will endeavour to respond to this enquiry within 24 hours, but please
note that during

busy periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.

In the mean time, you will be able to find the answers to commonly asked
questions on our
website: [1]www.liverpool.gov.uk.

Please do not respond to this e-mail as it has been generated
automatically.

Liverpool Direct
Winner - 'Best in Public Sector', Call Centre

Association Excellence Awards 2004 Liverpool,

European Capital of Culture 2008

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Dear Stephen Gradwick,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

We have forwarded your request to the relevant department, and they will
answer your query as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you have any further queries we may assist with.

Yours sincerely

Liverpool Direct

[1][email address]

[2]www.liverpool.gov.uk

Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

Would you prefer to receive your council tax bill via e-mail? Go to
[3]www.liverpool.gov.uk and complete the easy online registration form.

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Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Gradwick,

Many thanks for your recent request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 dated 26th September 2008.

Once your request has been actioned, either myself or a colleague will
respond to you.

Can you please direct any enquiries to [email address]
and quote the above reference number?

Yours sincerely

James Shaw
On behalf of Wendy Twigge, Information Manager

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Stephen Gradwick

Dear Mr Shaw,

You have not replied to my FOI request within the 20 working days you are allowed by law.

Kindly address yourselves to this matter immediately and explain your lack of response.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gradwick

Shaw, James, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Gradwick,

Sorry you have had no reply to your Freedom of Information Act request.

I have forwarded your email to the Information Manager and her team. As
I no longer work with FOI, I would be grateful if you could forward any
emails to [email address]

Many thanks

James

______________________________________________


James Shaw

* Customer Feedback Team
4th Floor
Millennium House
Victoria Street
Liverpool
L1 6JH

' 0151 233 4130
7
* [email address]
* http://www.liverpool.gov.uk


P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Thank you

* Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

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Stephen Gradwick left an annotation ()

A complaint was made to the Information Commissioner about this case.

They have responded thus:

11th November 2008

Case Reference Number FS50219796

Dear Mr Gradwick,

Your information request to Liverpool City Council

Thank you for your correspondence.

In cases such as this the Commissioner does not consider that serving a formal decision notice would serve any strong public interest. However, I have written to the public authority to provide them with a copy of your original request reminding it of its responsibilities and asking it to respond to you within 10 working days of receiving our letter. I attach a copy for your information.

As you will see, even though the Commissioner does not intend to issue a formal notice in this case, your concerns have been taken seriously. Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner.

If Liverpool responds and refuses to release the information you have asked for and you are dissatisfied, you may, after exhausting their internal complaints procedure, complain to us again.

This case has now been closed with the delayed response element showing as ‘withdrawn’ on our records. If you do not receive a response within 10 working days or are dissatisfied after having exhausted the internal review process mentioned above and would like us to look into the matter, please contact us quoting the reference number on this letter.

Should you have any questions about this please contact our Helpline on 08456 30 60 60, or 01625 54 57 45 if you would prefer to call a 'national rate' number.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Sanders
FoI Case Reception Unit
The Information Commissioner’s Office

Stephen Gradwick left an annotation ()

The Information Commissioner's letter to Liverpool City Council is reproduced below:

Miss W Twigge
Information Manager
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH

11th November 2008

Case Reference Number FS50219796

Dear Miss Twigge,

Complaint from Mr Stephen Gradwick

The Information Commissioner has received a complaint from Mr Gradwick stating that no response has been sent to an information request submitted to your organisation on 26 September 2008, which you have said was received. We enclose a copy of this request for your information, which was made at http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bu....

Any public authority in receipt of such a request is under a duty to respond within 20 working days of receipt. As it is the case that you have not responded, we would ask that you now please do so within 10 working days of receipt of this letter. We should be grateful if you could also provide a copy of your response to this office.

You should state whether or not the information is held in a recorded form. If it is held, you should either provide the information or issue a refusal notice in accordance with the requirements of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act or regulation 14 of the Environmental Information Regulations as appropriate. You can find more information on refusal notices, including a checklist of what such a notice should contain in the Commissioner’s Good Practice Guidance No.1, available at:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

For further advice on how to deal with freedom of information requests, please visit our website at www.ico.gov.uk or call our helpline on 08456 306060, or 01625 545745 if you prefer to use a National Rate number.

If you need to contact us about this matter, please quote the case reference number from the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Sanders
FoI Case Reception Unit
The Information Commissioner’s Office

Encl. Copy of request

Glanville, Andrea, Liverpool City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gradwick

Please find attached your response to your request; please accept my
apologies for the delay in responding.

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Finance & Legal Services Portfolio

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [1][email address]

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Francis Irving left an annotation ()

This request was spotted by a journalist and turned into a news story in the Liverpool Daily Post:

http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/20...

An interesting blog post about this:

http://www.andydickinson.net/2008/12/01/...

Francis Irving left an annotation ()

And a blog post by a journalist on the Liverpool Daily Post about their decision to cite the source of their story:

http://headlinesanddedlines.blogspot.com...

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

Could you please sign my petition and pass it on? I worked for Liverpool City Council for over 20 years and had to resign due to Bullying and Oppressive behaviour by management. I have launched a campaign for a change in the law in relation to workplace bullying investigations.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/08Bullying/ . When you complete the petition - it will email you a link which you have to click to actually have your name added to the list. Please do remember to check your spam folder if your email doesn't appear and make sure your name is on the list! Thanks

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

1/12/2008

Message from Colin Hilton

Dear colleague,

Contrary to recent misleading reports concerning stress and bullying within the council, I can confirm that Liverpool City Council is committed to supporting all staff in managing stress whether it be personal or work-related.

To promote awareness and offer supportive solutions to this sensitive issue the council participated in the recent National Stress Awareness Day on 5 November 2008.

I wish to reinforce the position of Liverpool City Council in that we have a zero tolerance approach to any form of bullying in the workplace and address any such incidents through jointly agreed policies and procedures.

Reports of bullying are in fact very low for an organisation of this size and each is thoroughly investigated. Similarly stress related absence is at levels comparable with other core cities.

Our commitment to support staff has been further demonstrated by the implementation of a range of family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements; the provision of professional counselling services; the introduction of a free confidential helpline available to all staff and their immediate family members; the development of a jointly agreed Stress Policy and the appropriate training for managers and the introduction of Open access clinics by the Occupational Health Service, to be launched on 18 December.

Colin Hilton
Chief executive

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

With the current recession employees need more protection in the workplace. I have started a petition to Stop Bullying in The Workplace. It's Called 09Bullying could you please sign it and pass it on? http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/09Bully... When you complete the petition - it will email you a link which you have to click to actually have your name added to the list. Please do remember to check your spam folder if your email doesn't appear and make sure your name is on the list!

Vicky Gray left an annotation ()

My Statement in Gray v Liverpool City Council http://tinyurl.com/nvk8ys