Directorate of Governance & Law
Director of Governance & Law – Satish Mistry
WalthamForestTown Hall, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 4JF
Mr Stuart Hardwick Carruthers/ Ask for / Shirley Orjih
Your Ref: / FOI/1253/E
Email: /
Direct line: / 020 8496 4710
Direct fax: / 020 8523 4967
Date: / 29thSeptember 2008
Dear Mr Hardwick Carruthers,
Re: Request for information.
I write in response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 (FOIA). I apologise for the delay in responding to your request. This was due to the nature of your request which necessitated our consulting with several directorates to locate and obtain the information. The last of the information was received by us today.
I can confirm that the Council holds some of the information requested by you.You have specifically requested the following:
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: Directly resolving complaints against the executive (Council Staff) of the Council by residents;
Sitting on committee's;
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.
Response: I can confirm that the Council does not hold this information. Councillors are not required to record time spent on their duties. Consequently, we are unable to provide information on the overall amount of time spent on their duties as elected representatives, or on the activities the questioner has specified.
You might want to consider the outcome of a research undertaken by the London Borough of Camden in 1997. That research indicated that the average (mean) and median number of hours spent by councillors per month on each of six categories of activity were as follows:
Hours per monthMean / Median
Attending and Preparing for meetings / 35 / 30
Representing the Council on outside bodies / 10 / 7
Representing individual constituents / 27 / 20
Representing local community interests / 14 / 10
Representing party political interests / 12 / 12
Any other activities / 8 / 5
TOTAL / 106 / 82
The findings from the 1997 research in Camden were most recently highlighted in a report of an Independent Panel appointed by London Councils, in 2006, to review the Remuneration of Councillors in London. That report was published and is available from London Councils (
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,
Each year Waltham Forest Council publishes the allowances and expenses payments made to councillors. The most recent figures, for the financial year 2007/8, were published in WFM on 11th August 2008, and can be viewed on the Council’s website.(
Under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2000, the Council is not obliged to comply with a request if the information requested is reasonably accessible from elsewhere.
Actual payments to Councillors are as follows:
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
£ £ £
797,167.13913,594.55 1,054,513.74
How many elected representatives are (and were) represented on your
authority for these years.
The Council has 60 councillors, with elections held every 4 years. In the last full council elections in May 2006, 37 of the 60 councillors were re-elected. Since May 2006 there have been 3 by-elections (one of the 3 councillors elected in these by-elections was also a councillor prior to 2006). Therefore the total number on councillors who have served on the authority since 2005 is 85; although never more than 60 at any one time.
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.
Complaint made to WalthamForest in the financial years 2005/2006, 2006/2007 & 2007/2008
2005/2006 / 2006/2007 / 2007/2008Stage 1 / 1695 / 1338 / 1668
Stage 2 / 149 / 129 / 120
Total / 1844 / 1467 / 1788
I would further like to know how many of these complaints were formally considered by an elected representative for each of these years.
Elected representatives (Councillors) do not consider such complaints.
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,
Elected representatives (Councillors) do not consider such complaints. It should be pointed out that the term 'Executive 'refers to the Cabinet made up of Councillors and not the Council staff core.
How many of these formal determinations by the elected representatives identify thatthere was no wrong-doing by the Executive.
7) Not applicable
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.
Dismissal figures are kept but they are broadly headed under the main reasons for dismissal i.e. capability, sickness, disciplinary and also classified so as to meet our statutory duties for instance under the different equality duties.Dismissals tend to be quite complex involving a number of factors. For dismissal purposes it should be noted that it is immaterial whether a Councillor or a manager identified that there is a complaint against the executive and this is therefore not held electronically by the HR departments.
How many staff employed by your authority in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008ceased 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.
Compensation payments through Council’s complaint system
2005/2006 / 2006/2007 / 2007/2008Compensation payments / £3768 / £10,363 / £6,175
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)
Compensation payments recommended by the Local Government Ombudsman following a local settlement decision or a formal finding of maladministration
2005/2006 / 2006/2007 / 2007/2008Ombudsman compensation payments / £18,930. / £10,000 / £10,000
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.
Not Available.
Please additionally identify if these costs were met directly by Council Tax Payers or the Council's insurers (excluding self insurance by a Council)
The costs were met through revenue costs i.e. Council tax payers
And the number of staff employed in administering complaints and resolving these(Full time equivalent staffing levels).
The number of staff employed in administering complaints is 18.5 FTE. Please note that this is subject to a service review to be carried out in the near future.
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.
Cost of Administration
Gross cost of services 733,839,000 725,092,000 787,316,000
Gross income of services 443,979,000 555,263,000 586,008,000
Net cost of services 289,860,000 169,829,000 01,308,000
Note
2006/07 onwards Dedicated Schools Grant included as income. 2005/06 and earlier expenditure was funded through Revenue Support Grant.
Staff Numbers
NonSchool staff 3,148 3,006 2,886
Staff in Schools (DSG) 3,642 3,663 3,323
Total 6,790 6,669 6,209
Budgeted increase in pay of Chief Executive £ £ £
144,513 144,513 151,722
Increase due to incremental drift 2,862 2,943
Increase due to inflation 4,348 3,867
Total salary budget 144,513 151,722 58,532
Excludes Employers NI and Superannuation
The Chief Executive’s salary was £140,373 in 2005raising by one increment to £151,722 in 2006. A new interim chief executive (consultant) was employed in 2007 and he is paid £1,000 per day.
Please additionally identify if the Chief Executives wages included performance related payments.
Chief Executives do not receive performance related pay.
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).
We believe that our complaints system is fit for purpose.
Please name the current Electoral Registration and Returning Officer, and identify if they are also Head of Paid Service, and Clerk to your Authority.
Roger Taylor, the Council’s Interim Chief Executive also holds other responsibilities including the Electoral Registration Officer, the Returning Officer and Head of Paid Service. The Proper Officer Responsibilities of Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer will be reviewed after the newly-appointed Chief Executive has taken up post.
Please additionally provide any documentation maintained by your Local Authority’s 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.
There is no documentation that we are aware of indicating that the Council's Head of Paid Service does not believe it to be appropriate for the Council to have a complaints system that is fit for purpose.
I trust that this satisfies your request sufficiently, however, if you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you have the right to complain about the Council’s response to your request for information. If you have such a complaint, you may contact the:
Corporate Information Officer
Room 2
WalthamForestTown Hall
E17 4JF
Tel- 020 84964334
within 28 days of the date of this letter for a review of the Council’s decision. If you remain unsatisfied with the outcome of that complaint, you may seek further recourse by lodging an appeal with the Information Commissioner.
Yours Sincerely,
Shirley Orjih
Assistant Corporate Information Officer
Corporate Law Team
Corporate Services
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