The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has just released its annual report and accounts into complaints made about local authorities 08/09.
Here are the headline figures from the Isle of Wight.
There were 48 complaints investigated by the LGO teams. This is up one from the previous year.
Nine of those were settled locally (definition below), up two from the seven of the previous year.
The LGO teams decided that in 22 of the complaints there had been no maladministration. This figure was 20 in the previous year.
In thirteen of the cases, the ombudsman used their discretion not to pursue a complaint. Twelve passed like this last year.
Outside jurisdiction was brought in for four of the complaints, which had been eight the previous year.
Full details are available in the LGO site
Local settlements defined
We weren’t quite sure what it meant for a case to be settled locally, so here’s the definition from the LGO site.
The term local settlement is used to describe the outcome of a complaint where, during the course of our consideration of the complaint, the council takes, or agrees to take, some action that the Ombudsman considers is a satisfactory response to the complaint and the investigation is discontinued. This may occur, for example, in any of the following circumstances:
- the council on its own initiative says that there was fault that caused injustice, and proposes a remedy which the Ombudsman accepts is satisfactory;
- the council accepts the suggestion by the Ombudsman, as an independent person, that there was fault which caused injustice, and agrees a remedy which the Ombudsman accepts is satisfactory;
- the council does not consider that there was fault but is able to take some action which the Ombudsman accepts is a satisfactory outcome;
- the council and the complainant themselves agree upon a course of action and the Ombudsman sees no reason to suggest any different outcome; or
- the Ombudsman considers that, even if the investigation were to continue, no better outcome would be likely to be achieved for the complainant than the action the council has already taken or agreed.
