Complaints handled by the Complaints Procedure.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

Please provide the following information for each of the past six years:

1) How many complaints have been dealt with using the council's Complaints Procedure?

2) How many of these were upheld in their entirety?

3) How many were upheld in part?

4) How many were dismissed?

5) How many cases were referred to the Ombudsman?

Yours faithfully,

Jo Harding

Dumfries and Galloway Council

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 04/03/2019 which we are dealing with in terms of the above legislation. We have given your request the unique reference 394196 and we would appreciate it if you could quote this on all correspondence to us.

Under the terms of the legislation, we have an obligation to respond to your request within 20 working days from the day after your request was received. We will therefore aim to respond to your request by 01/04/2019.

Please be aware that, in some circumstances, a fee may be payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information you have requested. If this is the case, a fees notice will be issued, which would need to be paid in order to progress your request.

If your request for information is considered and deemed as a 'business as usual' request, it will be responded to by the appropriate Service within the Council.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please contact [email address].

Kind Regards

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

Any email message sent or received by the Council may require to be disclosed by the Council under the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

FOI Responses, Dumfries and Galloway Council

2 Attachments

Please find below the Council's response to your request 394196 which was received on 04/03/2019.

Details of request: Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

Please provide the following information for each of the past six years:

1) How many complaints have been dealt with using the council's Complaints Procedure?

2) How many of these were upheld in their entirety?

3) How many were upheld in part?

4) How many were dismissed?

5) How many cases were referred to the Ombudsman?

Response:

In accordance with Section 17(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, Dumfries and Galloway Council can confirm that it does not hold the information for the last 6 years. However, we hold information as per the attached document for 2014/15 and 2015/16.

For 2016/17 in accordance with Section 25 the data is accessible by some other means as the information is already available and in the public domain on the Council?s web site using the following link

https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please be aware that the Council holds the copyright, where applicable, for the information provided and it may be reproduced free of charge in any format or media without requiring specific permission. This is subject to the material not being used in a misleading context. The source of the material must be acknowledged as Dumfries and Galloway Council and the title of the document must be included when being reproduced as part of another publication or service.

If you require any further clarification, please contact us. However, if you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt with, you can request us to carry out an internal review of the decision by emailing [email address] or writing to us within 40 working days of receiving this response.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, you have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. Appeals to the Commissioner can be made online at https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo... or in writing to: The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS.

Kind Regards

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

Any email message sent or received by the Council may require to be disclosed by the Council under the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Dumfries and Galloway Council's handling of my FOI request 'Complaints handled by the Complaints Procedure.'.

The information you have supplied does not include the number of complaints referred to the Ombudsman. Please remedy this and provide these details.

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

Yours faithfully,

Jo Harding

Dear FOI Responses,

Request for Internal Review was sent to you on 29 March 2019 and you have failed to respond to date.

Since the time limit for such a review has long expired, this will be submitted to the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Jo Harding

Dear FOI Responses,

This is yet another case where you have failed to comply with the FOI Act and failed to respond for a request for Internal Review made on 29 March 2019. Given this has been over 12 months, this must set a new record even for the abysmal standards of DGC.

Is there any chance you might be able to provide the information sought at this late stage?

Yours sincerely,

Jo Harding