Communications from Oliver Mundell concerning constituents' problems with Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Susan Murray made this Freedom of Information request to Dumfries and Galloway Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

Mary Ann, a constituency assistant of Oliver Mundell, had advised someone that 95% of the people who attend his surgeries are there because they have problems with Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Please provide details of the following;

How many representations has the council received from Oliver Mundell MSP in each of the last 3 years? These in respect of constituents who have asked him to act for them in connection with problems they are encountering with Dumfries and Galloway Council (and presumably getting nowhere).

Please provide an analysis of the issues that you have been contacted about by Oliver Mundell MSP. This to show which council department was the subject of the complaints.

What was the outcome of these representations? How many instances were there where the council was found to be acting unlawfully, or incorrectly?

Yours faithfully,

Susan Murray

Dumfries and Galloway Council

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FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

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Dumfries and Galloway Council

Please find below the Council's response to your request 404787 which was received on 10/04/2019.

Details of request: Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

Mary Ann, a constituency assistant of Oliver Mundell, had advised someone that 95% of the people who attend his surgeries are there because they have problems with Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Please provide details of the following;

How many representations has the council received from Oliver Mundell MSP in each of the last 3 years? These in respect of constituents who have asked him to act for them in connection with problems they are encountering with Dumfries and Galloway Council (and presumably getting nowhere).

Please provide an analysis of the issues that you have been contacted about by Oliver Mundell MSP. This to show which council department was the subject of the complaints.

What was the outcome of these representations? How many instances were there where the council was found to be acting unlawfully, or incorrectly?

Response:

Please see response to this FOI below:-

1. How many representations has the council received from Oliver Mundell MSP in each of the last 3 years?
(b) These in respect of constituents who have asked him to act for them.

Years Total number of enquiries How many were on behalf of others? % of total that were on behalf of other people
2016 48 44 92%
2017 224 173 77%
2018 272 136 50%
2019 (at 15 April) 85 38 45%
Grand Total 629 391 62%

2. Please provide an analysis of the issues that you have been contacted about by Oliver Mundell MSP. This to show which council department was the subject of the complaints.

Note the contact made by Mr Mundell were enquiries NOT complaints.

Departments/Service contacted Count
Roads Service 175
Infrastructure and Transportation 124
Community Assets 65
Planning Services 52
Adult Social Care Services 33
Education 25
Revenues and Benefits 18
Community Safety 14
Housing 13
Physical Activity Leisure Sport 11
Children and Family Social Care 9
Transport Strategy 9
Enterprising Services 8
Primary Schools 7
Property Asset Management and Energy Management 7
Social Work 5
Early Years Childcare 4
Economic Development 4
Vehicle and Plant Services 4
Customer Service Centres 3
Engineering Design 3
Environment 3
Environmental Health 3
Secondary Schools 3
Treasury and Insurance 3
Area Committee Advice and Support 2
Building and Maintenance Services 2
Economy, Environment and Infrastructure 2
Events and Festivals 2
Legal and Licensing 2
Libraries 2
Community Councils 1
Electoral Register 1
Financial Strategy and Accounting 1
Local Resilience, Civil Contingencies, Emergency Planning 1
Networks and Telecommunications 1
Organisational Development 1
Preventing Homelessness 1
Regional Economic Strategy 1
Trading Standards 1
Valuation Roll 1
Ward Working 1
Waste Service 1
Grand Total 629

3. What was the outcomes of representations.
Note: The majority of the outcomes are DGC providing information to Mr Mundell rather than resulting an action being taken.

Outcome of Oliver Mundell Representations for constituents Count
Information provided 313
Customer contact arranged 9
Road inspection arranged 9
Property inspection arranged 4
Pavement inspection arranged 3
Temporary traffic counter to be deployed 3
Apology issued due to lack of communication 2
Community safety patrol agreed 2
Meeting arranged 2
Monument inspection arranged 2
Neighbour mediation offered 2
Road maintenance arranged 2
Road signage review arranged 2
Roadside maintenance carried out 2
Additional litter bin installed 1
Bid for capital funding, for new drainage system, to be submitted 1
Comments passed to dghp 1
Complaint logged 1
Council tax reduction applied 1
Customer contacted 1
Drain cleaning arranged 1
Drains inspection arranged 1
Emergency road patching arranged 1
Enquiry forwarded to police scotland 1
Grass cutting arranged 1
Hedge inspection arranged 1
Junction added to road safety programme 1
Litter uplift arranged 1
Minor road repair arranged 1
Monument inscription alteration arranged 1
Pavement repair arranged 1
Pedestrian walkway implemented 1
Policy reiterated to contractor 1
Public convenience inspected 1
Referral to citizen's advice service arranged 1
Road added to the speed limit and traffic calming 2018/19 capital
programme 1
Road defect recorded 1
Road investigation agreed 1
Road repaired 1
Road resurfacing prioritised 1
Road sign inspection arranged 1
Road signage inspection arranged 1
Road signage to be erected 1
Sign erected 1
Social care referral made 1
Social work meeting arranged 1
Streetlighting repair arranged 1
Tree removal arranged 1
Total 391

4. How many instances were there where the council was found to be acting unlawfully, or incorrectly?

Two of the representations resulted in DGC noting that communication could have been improved. This was noted for future customer interactions.

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Kind Regards

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

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Susan Murray (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

In their response Dumfries and Galloway Counci, state that the communications from Oliver Mundell are in the nature of enquiries and not complaints.

The fact is that people only involve Oliver Mundell if they have been unable to get anywhere in pursuing matters with the council. This is a last resort for them when they are at the end of their tether in dealing with the corrupt council.