Bullying in Highland Council

The request was successful.

Dear Highland 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

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

Hello,

Can you let me know your full name so that I can process your enquiry.

Many thanks.

Liz

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Highland Council

Case Ref: HC0226-304

 

Dear Mr Lewis,

We acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the
FOI legislation received on 21/07/2016.

Subject:

Bullying in Highland Council

 

Request Detail:

Dear Highland 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

 

The Highland Council will endeavour to respond within the legislative time
scale of 20 working days from date of receipt unless further clarification
of your request is required.

Further information on response times can be found at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

Yours Sincerely,

 

The Highland Council

 

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Dear Highland Council,

My name is Mr Lewis - the law doesn't require me to provide any more than this.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Lewis

Yabootoyou

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

Mr Lewis
Under the FOI legislation, requesters must provide their full name when requesting information from a Local Authority. Please see link http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

Leanne Gair

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Dear Freedom of Information,

Please see the example below taken from the ICO website at the following address - https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio.... Note the "Mr Jones".

"Example
A requester named Robert Jones could call themselves ‘Rob Jones’, ‘Bobby Jones’, ‘R Jones’, ‘Bob Jones’ or ‘Mr Jones’.
However, they could not just use ‘Robert’, ‘Bob’, ‘Bobby’ or ‘R.J’. "

I trust this clarifies the law which frankly you should know.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Lewis

Yabootoyou

Dear Freedom of Information,

I have just realized that you are in Scotland (I have written to English and Welsh councils and will be writing to those in Northern Ireland soon after Scotland) and that the law is slightly different. The following website states that an initial is sufficient with the surname (see text below) so I propose to send you that and not a first name - are we agreed?

http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/FAQ/G...

"Do I have to provide my real name and my full address when I ask for information?

The FOI Act says that a request must include the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence. In terms of your address, either your full postal address or your email address will be fine.

You will need to provide your full real name. If you don't use your real name the authority won't have to provide the information, and you won't be able to appeal to the Commissioner. At the very least, your request should include your initial and your surname.

If you send your request by email, remember to put your name in the text of the email. Even if your name appears in your email address (e.g. [email address]) you must add your name to the text of your request, so that it is clear who the email is from."

Yours sincerely,

Yabootoyou

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

Dear Mr Lewis,
I refer to your request for information regarding bullying and have provided our answers below. Please accept my apologies for the time taken to respond.

1) How many official complaints of harassment and bullying at work did you receive between the 1st April 2009 and the 31st December 2015?
19

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:
12

3) How many of those which were not upheld in favour of the complainant went on to Appeal?
2

4) How many of those that went to Appeal were found to favour the complainant?
1

5) How many complaints went on to an Employment Tribunal?
None

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

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?  
Unknown.

8) How many staff does your authority have and what is the current population within your authority's area?
9,840 Headcount and 232,910 people living within the highlands

Under Section 20 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and/or Regulation 16 of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), you have the right to request that the Highland Council reviews any aspect of how it has dealt with your request. This requirement for review should be put in writing to the Freedom of Information Officer, Chief Executive's Office, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX, within 40 working days of receipt of this letter. The request should include details of the information requested and the aspects of the Highland Council's response which you are not satisfied with.

If you are subsequently dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council's review, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner under Section 47 of the Act (Regulation 17 of the EIRS), within six months of receiving the Council's review response.

Yours sincerely,

Miles Watters

Miles Watters | Freedom of Information & Data Protection Manager |
Chief Executive's Office | The Highland Council | Glenurquhart Road | Inverness IV3 5NX |
Tel. 01463 702029 | Fax 01463 702830 | www.highland.gov.uk