functions council

The request was partially successful.

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council Staff) of the Council by residents;
2 sitting on committee's;
3 acting for the political parties that they represent and/or ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council on these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many elected representatives are (and were) represented on your authority for these years.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for each year. I would further like to know how many of these complaints were formally considered by an elected representative for each of these years.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these formal determinations by the elected representatives identify that there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff employed by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be the case.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations have been met in full (including any non-financial recommendations for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not been met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding self insurance by a Council)

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these (Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide details of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your authority, as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief Executives wages included performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing the information requested will be more than £450 please state this and identify that your Authority does not have either a functioning or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please identify which political party currently controls your Council, and if this political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with date of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local Government Act 1989.

Yours faithfully

Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS

Data Protection, Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Carruthers

I refer to your request for information concerning the functions of the Council. I can give you the following information. For ease of reference your questions are included in this response.

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3
acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council on
these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they
spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

Council response: We do not collect this information on Councillors and therefore we cannot provide the details requested.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.

Council response: The amounts paid were as follows:
2005/06: £575,000
2006/07: £609,000
2007/08: £679,000
There have been 63 Councillors (three per ward) throughout the years concerned.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.

Council response: The numbers of complaints were as follows:
2005/06: 426
2006/07: 611
2007/08: 680
Whilst Councillors often assist members of the public in making complaints to the Council, complaints are not considered by Councillors.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these
formal determinations by the elected representatives identify that
there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff employed
by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to
be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint
against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be
the case.

Council response: We are not aware of any such complaints against individual Corporate Directors or the Chief Executive, or of any staff ceasing to be employed in the manner stated.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

Council response: The amount of any monies paid to a complainant as specified above is not recorded as a specific budget category or as a specific field in the database, and thus each one of the complaints received in each service would need to be located and the outcome examined in order to provide the information requested. This would take a significant amount of time, in excess of the 18 hours stipulated in the Act. We will therefore not be supplying this information.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding
self insurance by a Council)

Council response: The work involved in reviewing the relevant files in order to extract the information requested would take a significant amount of time, in excess of the 18 hours stipulated in the Act. We will therefore not be supplying this information in full. However, in addition to the information on the details of one decision, Daisy Kaye, which has previously been provided to you (on 22nd August 2008), I am able to give you the following details of one further case where maladministration was found, in the year 2006/07: this case concerned the Council seeking to recover money paid out as a renovation grant. The Ombudsman issued two reports, each recommending waiver of the grant repayment; the Council did not accept the recommendation, and as you will see from the later of the two attached Statements of Executive Decision, the Council proposed a solution whereby the repayment would be deferred by transferring the outstanding sum, without interest, to be a charge on the applicant's property, payable on disposal of the property, thereby not disadvantaging the elderly vulnerable occupant.

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

Council response: We do not hold information on the financial cost of administering our complaints systems nor on the administrative costs generally, nor do we have records of the number of staff employed in administering complaints. The Council maintains a corporate complaints system, within which each service area deals with its own complaints.
The total number of staff employed by the Council, excluding staff at LEA maintained schools, is 3985, with a FTE of 3026.
The Chief Executive's remuneration in the three years fell into the following bands: 2005/06 £90,000 - £99,999 (note: joined Trafford 1.7.05), 2006/07 £140,000 - £149,999, 2007/08 £150,000 - £159,999. The payments do include performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.

Council response: The Council's complaints system is fit for purpose.

If you are unhappy with this response you may apply for an internal review, please direct any request to me in the first instance. Please let me know if you require any further information.

Yours sincerely

Nick Evans
Corporate Information Officer
Trafford Council
Office address:
Legal Services
Trafford Town Hall
Talbot Road
Stretford
M32 0TH

Office phone number: 0161 912 1324
Office fax number: 0161 912 4294

Trafford Council is a well-performing, low-cost council working with Trafford Partnership to make Trafford a great place to live, learn, work and relax.
You can find out more about us by visiting www.trafford.gov.uk

.

show quoted sections

Data Protection, Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Carruthers

My apologies, the two attachments were omitted from the response sent a few minutes ago.

I refer to your request for information concerning the functions of the Council. I can give you the following information. For ease of reference your questions are included in this response.

I would like to know the average proportion of time the elected
representatives of your authority spend as part of their duties for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 on their main activities. The
activities that form their duties (employment) as an elected
representative are:

1 directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council
Staff) of the Council by residents; 2 sitting on committee's; 3
acting for the political parties that they represent and/or
ceremonial duties (i.e. all time not spent on sitting on a
Committee or resolving a complaint against the executive);

The total time spent by an elected representative for a Council on
these three activities should be 100 per cent of the time they
spend 'working for a Council' as an elected representative.

Council response: We do not collect this information on Councillors and therefore we cannot provide the details requested.

I would additionally like to know how much in total was paid to
local councillors to meet all their duties (including expenses) for
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 by your authority, and how many
elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.

Council response: The amounts paid were as follows:
2005/06: £575,000
2006/07: £609,000
2007/08: £679,000
There have been 63 Councillors (three per ward) throughout the years concerned.

I would also like to know how many Complaints in total were
submitted to your Council in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for
each year. I would further like to know how many of these
complaints were formally considered by an elected representative
for each of these years.

Council response: The numbers of complaints were as follows:
2005/06: 426
2006/07: 611
2007/08: 680
Whilst Councillors often assist members of the public in making complaints to the Council, complaints are not considered by Councillors.

I would further like to know how many complaints against the
Executive (Council staff) led to the elected representatives
formally identifying that the Executive had acted wrongly for the
years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, and how many of these
formal determinations by the elected representatives identify that
there was no wrong-doing by the Executive. How many staff employed
by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 ceased to
be employed by your authority as a direct result of a complaint
against the Executive, and the Councillors identifying this to be
the case.

Council response: We are not aware of any such complaints against individual Corporate Directors or the Chief Executive, or of any staff ceasing to be employed in the manner stated.

I would further like to know how much money the Council has paid to
a complainant (i.e. victim of a Council's wrongdoing) through its
own complaints system (i.e. excluding any intervention by the Local
Government Ombudsman, Valuation Tribunal or similar body) in
2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008.

Council response: The amount of any monies paid to a complainant as specified above is not recorded as a specific budget category or as a specific field in the database, and thus each one of the complaints received in each service would need to be located and the outcome examined in order to provide the information requested. This would take a significant amount of time, in excess of the 18 hours stipulated in the Act. We will therefore not be supplying this information.

I would like to know how much money either in the form of local
settlement or additional formal finding of maladministration
causing injustice the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended
that your Council pay in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 (for
each year) and if the Local Government Ombudsman's recommendations
have been met in full (including any non-financial recommendations
for each year)). Please detail any recommendation that has not been
met in full and provide a copy of the Elected representatives
decision. Please additionally identify if these costs were met
directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding
self insurance by a Council)

Council response: The work involved in reviewing the relevant files in order to extract the information requested would take a significant amount of time, in excess of the 18 hours stipulated in the Act. We will therefore not be supplying this information in full. However, in addition to the information on the details of one decision, Daisy Kaye, which has previously been provided to you (on 22nd August 2008), I am able to give you the following details of one further case where maladministration was found, in the year 2006/07: this case concerned the Council seeking to recover money paid out as a renovation grant. The Ombudsman issued two reports, each recommending waiver of the grant repayment; the Council did not accept the recommendation, and as you will see from the later of the two attached Statements of Executive Decision, the Council proposed a solution whereby the repayment would be deferred by transferring the outstanding sum, without interest, to be a charge on the applicant's property, payable on disposal of the property, thereby not disadvantaging the elderly vulnerable occupant.

Finally, please provide details of the financial cost of
administering all your complaints systems (including FoI and DP) by
the Executive for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 and the number
of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these
(Full time equivalent staffing levels). Please also provide details
of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and
2007/2008 and the total number of staff employed by your authority,
as well as any pay increase (including increments) made to the
Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling
for each of these years. Please additionally identify if the Chief
Executives wages included performance related payments.

Council response: We do not hold information on the financial cost of administering our complaints systems nor on the administrative costs generally, nor do we have records of the number of staff employed in administering complaints. The Council maintains a corporate complaints system, within which each service area deals with its own complaints.
The total number of staff employed by the Council, excluding staff at LEA maintained schools, is 3985, with a FTE of 3026.
The Chief Executive's remuneration in the three years fell into the following bands: 2005/06 £90,000 - £99,999 (note: joined Trafford 1.7.05), 2006/07 £140,000 - £149,999, 2007/08 £150,000 - £159,999. The payments do include performance related payments.

If you do not have this reasonably basic management information
related to complaints and/or identify that the costs of accessing
the information requested will be more than £450 please state this
and identify that your Authority does not have either a functioning
or accountable complaints system, and does not maintain any basic
management information related to this issue.

If you have a complaints system not fit for purpose please identify
which political party currently controls your Council, and if this
political party has appointed the current Electoral Registration
and Returning Officer through its control of the Council (with date
of their formal appointment). Please name the current Electoral
Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also
Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority. Please
additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local
Authorities Head of Paid Service identifying that they personally
do not believe it to be appropriate for your Council to have a
complaints system that is fit for purpose. This documentation
should be in existence due to the provisions of s4 of the Local
Government Act 1989.

Council response: The Council's complaints system is fit for purpose.

If you are unhappy with this response you may apply for an internal review, please direct any request to me in the first instance. Please let me know if you require any further information.

Yours sincerely

Nick Evans
Corporate Information Officer
Trafford Council
Office address:
Legal Services
Trafford Town Hall
Talbot Road
Stretford
M32 0TH

Office phone number: 0161 912 1324
Office fax number: 0161 912 4294

Trafford Council is a well-performing, low-cost council working with Trafford Partnership to make Trafford a great place to live, learn, work and relax.
You can find out more about us by visiting www.trafford.gov.uk

.

show quoted sections