Dear Mr Carruthers
Thank you for your request for information regarding Council functions. Your request has been considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
My reasonable enquiries have included a review of all aspects of your request, which are addressed in turn below.
1. 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.
Elected members do not get involved in council complaints.
We cannot determine how long elected representatives spend as part of their duties as this is not recorded.
2. 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.
This information is available publicly in the Council Constitution. Please refer to the following document:
3. 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.
2005/2006 - 1999
2006/2007 - 1542
2007/2008 - 1476
Elected members do not get involved in council complaints
4. 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.
Elected members do not get involved in council complaints
5. 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.
2005/2006 – £1952.73
2006/2007 – £6832.40
2007/2008 – £8638.93
6. 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 electedrepresentative's 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)
2005/06: 8 Local settlements: Payments totalled £2172.72. In addition acharge for £988.38 was withdrawn/written off. Two complaints involved non financial actions and these were implemented in accordance with the agreed local settlements.
2006/07: 12 Local settlements: Payments totalled £7200. In addition chargesfor £1256.32 were withdrawn/writtenoff. A further charge of £384.10 was withdrawn/written offby a third party acting forthe Council. Five complaints involved non financial actionsandthesewereimplemented in accordance withthe agreed local settlements.
2007/08: 10 Local settlements and one maladministration: Payments totalled £4913.00. In addition a charge for £1627.08was withdrawn/written off. Seven complaints involved non financial actions and these were implemented in accordance with the agreed local settlements.
These payments weremetby the Council and not insurers.
Elected members do not get involved in council complaints
7. 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
Costs cannot be determined specifically for complaints as the system in use is not solely used for complaints.
8. The number of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these (Full time equivalent staffing levels).
This cannot be determined as we do not employ staff to solely administer complaints. Many staff across all of the Council can be involved in complaints depending on the nature of the complaint.
9. Please provide details of your total administrative costs for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008
The BVACOP actual are as follows:
2005/06 £11,201,164
2006/07 £11,454,087
2007/08 £11,506,047
The above figures included spend for democratic representation & management, corporate management, officer's time and additional superannuation payments.
10. The total number of staff employed by your authority,
As at 31st March 2008 the total head count was 18,043. This figure includes teachers/teaching staff and contracts with zero hours.
11. Any pay increase (including increments) made to the Council's Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) in pounds sterling for 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008
Please additionally identify if the Chief Executives wages included performance related payments.
Financial Year :2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08 / Total
£ / £ / £ / £
Basic Pay / 138,171.00 / 142,248.00 / 145,770.00 / 426,189.00
Allowances / 10,185.00 / 4,368.75 / 14,553.75
NI / 17,365.80 / 17,100.72 / 16,868.39 / 51,334.91
Super / 13,516.80 / 20,233.10 / 21,719.77 / 55,469.67
179,238.60 / 183,950.57 / 184,358.16 / 547,547.33
Pay increases 2.95% in 2005/06 & 2006/07
Pay increase 2.475% in 2007/08
No performance related pay was received
Please note that most of the information that you request is owned by the Coventry City Council and subject to copyright protection. Under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information 2005 Regulations you are free to use this information for your own use or for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use under the Regulations, for example; publication of the information or circulation to the public, will require permission of the copyright owner and may be subject to terms and conditions. For documents where the copyright does not belong to Coventry City Council you will need to apply separately to the copyright holder.
If you wish to apply to reuse the information you have requested or have any other issues relating to this request please do not hesitate to contact me.
I hope you feel that our response meets your request. However you have a right to make a complaint about the handling of your request, and you also have a right to make an appeal about the outcome of your request – in the first instance to the Council's Information Governance Team at:
Information Governance Team
Council House, Basement Room 5
Earl Street, Coventry.
CV1 5RR
Please be advised that if you are still dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint and/or appeal for the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Doran Pearce
Business Support Manager
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