Bullying in Chorley Borough Council

The request was successful.

Dear Chorley Borough Council,

This request is being made to make the public at large and people in each authority aware of which councils are the worst offenders or the better examples when it comes to bullying in the workplace. All councils have very similar anti-bullying / dignity at work policies, but there seems to be a difference in the level of bullying. This is intended to statistically show those differences.

Please reply to the first two questions first as they are the most important:

a) Please inform me of the cost of dealing with this request.

1) How many official complaints of harassment and bullying at work did you receive between the 1st April 2009 and the 31st December 2015?

2) How many of these complaints were upheld in favour of the
complainant?

Please reply to these questions if the £450 limit is not exceeded or in order of the questions up to the limit should the limit be surpassed somewhere within these questions:

3) How many of those which were not upheld in favour of the
complainant went on to Appeal?

4) How many of those that went to Appeal were found to favour the
complainant?

5) How many complaints went on to an Employment Tribunal?

6) How many of these were found to uphold the complaint?

7) Out of how many of those allegations (the number given to question 1) did the complainant of
bullying claim that the bullies were telling lies?

8) How many staff does your authority have and what is the current population within your authority's area?

Yours faithfully

Mr Lewis

yabootoyou

Contact, Chorley Borough Council

Thank you for your email.

 

We will deal with your enquiry as quickly as possible. You may find the
information you need on our website.

 

Kind Regards

 

Chorley Council

 

( 01257 515151 | 8 [1]chorley.gov.uk
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References

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foi, Chorley Borough Council

Dear Mr Lewis

I am writing in response to your request for information under the terms
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Ref No FOI/16/292.

Please find below, the details of your request and our response in blue.

 

 

Requested:

 

 

This request is being made to make the public at large and people in each
authority aware of which councils are the worst offenders or the better
examples when it comes to bullying in the workplace.  All councils have
very similar anti-bullying / dignity at work policies, but there seems to
be a difference in the level of bullying.  This is intended to
statistically show those differences.

 

Please reply to the first two questions first as they are the most
important:

 

a)      Please inform me of the cost of dealing with this request.

Approximately 5 hours have been spent on this request.  For the purpose of
Freedom of Information requests the ICO states:

 

You should rate staff time at £25 per person per hour, regardless of who
does the work, including external contractors.

 

Therefore the cost of dealing with this request has been approximately
£125.00

 

 

 

1)      How many official complaints of harassment and bullying at work
did you receive between the 1st April 2009 and the 31st December 2015?

15

 

2)      How many of these complaints were upheld in favour of the 
complainant? 

4 progressed to disciplinary.

 

 

Please reply to these questions if the £450 limit is not exceeded or in
order of the questions up to the limit should the limit be surpassed
somewhere within these questions:

 

3)      How many of those which were not upheld in favour of the 
complainant went on to Appeal?

0

 

4)      How many of those that went to Appeal were found to favour the 
complainant?

0

 

5)      How many complaints went on to an Employment Tribunal?

0

 

6)      How many of these were found to uphold the complaint?

0

 

7)      Out of how many of those allegations (the number given to question
1) did the complainant of  bullying claim that the bullies were telling
lies?

In order to establish whether the complaint involved allegations that the
bullying party was telling lies would involve manually reviewing files
dating back to 2009. It is estimated that such an exercise would take
approximately 21 hours to complete .

 

Therefore, Chorley Council is claiming exemption from disclosing the
information under Section 12 (1) of the FOIA, as the cost of complying
with the request would exceed the appropriate limit of £450, as covered by
Section 3 (3) the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

 

8)      How many staff does your authority have and what is the current
population within your authority's area?

328 employees (correct as of 29 June 2016).

Approximate population of Chorley is 110,000.

 

 

 

I hope the information provided here answers your enquiry.  If however,
you are unhappy with the outcome, or the way in which Chorley Council has
handled your request, you may wish to make an appeal.  This can be done in
writing to the Information Manager, Chorley Council, Civic Offices, Union
Street, Chorley, PR7 1AL, or by e-mail to: [1][email address]  clearly
stating your reasons for dissatisfaction.  Please quote the above
reference number in all correspondence.

 

If your appeal is either not upheld or you remain dissatisfied with our
decision, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner at:  Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, or by e-mail to [2][email address].

Please note that the information provided by Chorley Borough Council is
intended for your personal use. If it is your intention to re-use the
information for commercial gain, you will need to apply to the Council for
a licence to re-use it, under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information
Regulations 2005.

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Ally Lloyd
Software Support Engineer
Chorley Council

( 01257 515151 | 8 [3]chorley.gov.uk
Tickets now on sale for Chorley Flower Show on 30 and 31 July – get yours
[4]here.

You can make service requests online at [5]chorley.gov.uk, and it’s even
faster if you use '[6]My Account'

 

This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If they have come to you in error you must not use, copy or communicate
them to anyone. Please advise the sender and permanently delete the e-mail
and attachments. Please note that while Chorley Council has policies in
place requiring its staff to use e-mail in an appropriate manner, any
views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender may not
necessarily reflect the views of Chorley Council. Chorley Council may
monitor e-mails sent or received.

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
3. chorley.gov.uk
http://chorley.gov.uk/
4. here
http://chorley.gov.uk/Pages/AtoZ/Chorley...
5. chorley.gov.uk
http://chorley.gov.uk/
6. My Account
https://myaccount.chorley.gov.uk/Login.a...

Dear foi,

15 complaints for a district council is quite high for the replies I have seen so far, with the headcount you have. You are second highest out of about 25 replies so far.

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou