Agenda item

Minutes:

Members considered a report on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Annual Review letter 2021/22. This report examined the Annual Review Letter which covered complaints that were either received or decided by the LGSCO during the 2021/22 period.

 

Section 2 of the report included the annual review figures, these were summarised to the Committee and highlighted in the Executive Summary, noting the number of complaints referred to the Ombudsman had decreased compared to previous years, with 12 complaints referred, 8 were investigated and 2 were upheld.

 

Section 3 of the report provided further information of those complaints upheld, two in total, with sections 4 and 5 setting out how the authority had complied with any recommendations from the LGSCO and any learning it had implemented as a result.

 

Finally, the report compared how West Lindsey District Council had performed overall nationally and in comparison to 20 other similar local authorities in terms of the number of complaints referred, investigated and upheld by the LGSCO.

 

The Chairman, in advance of the meeting,  had requested a statement of assurance in regards to the issues identified in the two upheld complaints and the Committee received a submission from Enforcement Team Manager as follows: -

 

“During the pandemic the planning enforcement service experienced unprecedented demand, which meant that the number of cases open for investigations doubled within a three month period. This in turn had a significant impact upon our ability to progress cases at a formal stage. Within this specific case there were delays in getting the case to the formal notice phase and subsequently in determining how to proceed with formal enforcement. The complainant was kept up-to-date with the Council’s position, just not to an extent that the LGO felt satisfied with and the delays did not affect the overall outcome. The LGO felt that the delays were not acceptable and a formal apology was offered.

 

During the period of delay the Council took steps to bring an additional temporary resource into the work area to ease the burden and this resource is due to come to an end at the end of December 2022. The overall performance within the service area since then, as per progress and delivery reporting, should give Councillors confidence that these delays are no longer being experienced. The demand within the work area has reduced, however it is still generally at a level that is higher than pre-covid. These demand levels are monitored regularly and a policy review is due at Prosperous Communities Committee in early 2023.

 

 

 

Officer error: (Community Safety Complaint)

The issues relating to Officer error within this report have been addresses through the revised procedure for Community Protection Notices. Each Officer utilising this power will ensure that it is checked by the Senior Officer within the work area and that legal advice is sought to ensure that wording is appropriate and that the overall intention of the notice is realistically enforceable. Legal advice is not sought in all cases, but where there may be a requirement for it due to the nature of the notice.

Each work area now has a Senior Officer and this has resulted in a greater level of communication and joint working to ensure that cases that could fall within multiple work areas or which may require multiple powers to be used, are discussed at an early stage to determine who the Lead Officer will be.

 

Given the volume of the work undertaken across the Regulatory work areas, there will be occasions where we do not get it 100% right. The intention is to learn from examples such as this and ensure that processes are improved so they do not occur again.”

 

Debate ensued and the Chairman welcomed the assurance statement, and hoped such information could be included in future reports, where necessary, commenting on the ever-improving format of this annual report.

 

It was questioned in respect of some enforcement whether the Council appeared to be “soft” and the reputational impact this could have. There was lengthy debate with some specific examples.  Members were reminded of the statutory process that must be applied and of how formal action did not necessarily produce results any quicker and was at considerable cost to the Council which had to be a consideration. Enforcement was taken in accordance with the Council’s approved Policy, which was being reviewed shortly.

 

In relation specifically to planning condition breaches, assurance was offered that there was much greater liaison between Planning Officers and Enforcement Officers to ensure any conditions imposed were recorded in an enforceable manner.   Reference was made to the previous question to Council regarding this subject.

 

Officers confirmed initial trends for the 2022/23 year were looking positive and referred Members to Section 6 which set out how WLDC compared to others.

 

RESOLVED that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Annual Review letter 2021/22 and report be welcomed, and having scrutinised its content the Committee have assurance that the current complaint handling procedures are functioning adequately.

 

 

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