Complaints to Ombudsman fall
The success of Wyre Forest District Council in resolving
complaints about services is highlighted in a report to the
Council's Ethics and Standards Committee.
The report notes that in 2008/09, only three complaints required
investigation by the independent Local Government Ombudsman.
A complaint is only considered by the Ombudsman when a member of
the public is dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council's local
complaints resolution process. The Ombudsman's role is to
investigate complaints in a fair and independent way and decided
whether 'injustice' has been caused by the shortcomings in the
administrative actions of the Council.
Of the three complaints investigated, the Ombudsman did not find
that the Council had acted incorrectly or that the complainants had
suffered any injustice. This is the fourth year in a row that
the Ombudsman has reached this conclusion. It is also the
lowest number of complaints considered by the Ombudsman in 9
years.
Councillor Marcus Hart, Wyre Forest District Council's Cabinet
Member for Community and Partnership Services said,
"The Council is working hard to ensure the services it provides
are right first time. I am pleased that there are so few
cases where members of the public are unhappy with how the
authority has attempted to resolve a situation and that an
independent body has reported we are acting correctly. We
welcome the information in this report which highlights the
Council's success in resolving complaints in an appropriate
way."
The report will be discussed at the meeting of the Ethics and
Standards Committee on Wednesday 27th January
2010. Details of all council meetings and the associated
reports can be found on the Council's website.
Date of issue - 22nd January 2010
