Thanet District Council Compaints Procedure for Freedom of
Information Act Cases
Any written reply from an applicant expressing dissatisfaction
with the Council's response to a valid request for information will
be treated as a complaint to be dealt with under this procedure
whether or not the applicant has asked for the decision or the
handling of the application to be reviewed internally. Any written
complaint that there has been a failure to comply with the
Council's Publication Scheme will also be treated as a complaint to
be dealt with under this procedure.
The aim of this procedure is to ensure a fair and thorough means
of handling problems and reviewing decisions taken pursuant to the
Act, including decisions taken about where the public interest lies
in respect of exempt information, in accordance with the provisions
of the Secretary of State's Code of Practice issued under
Section 45 of the Act.
Under this Complaints Procedure a fresh decision will be taken
after a reconsideration of all the factors relevant to the issue
and taking into account the matters raised by the investigation of
the complaint; it is possible to reverse or amend any decision
which has already been taken prior to this procedure being engaged.
In the event of decisions being reversed or amended, all necessary
steps must be taken promptly to implement the reversed or amended
decision.
These procedures are intended to be clear and simple and,
further, capable of producing a prompt determination of all
complaints.
Paragraph 40 of the Code of Practice provides "Where the
complaint concerns a request for information under the general
rights of access, the review should be undertaken by someone senior
to the person who took the original decision, where this is
reasonably practicable". All reasonably practicable steps shall
accordingly be taken to arrange for all reviews to be handled by a
more senior officer who was not a party to the original decision.
Only in the rarest of circumstances will it not be reasonably
practicable for another such officer to handle the review such as,
for example, in the case of a request for information which was of
such wide-ranging scope that very many of the Council's senior
officers had been involved in dealing with the request for
information and that, although not the original decision maker,
they would reasonably be considered to be party to the original
decision such that the procedure would not be a "fair means" of
dealing with the complaint. In such a rare case, and in the absence
of any other available officer who could appropriately handle the
complaint, the circumstances must be explained to the complainant
and the internal review procedure waived; the complainant must be
so notified in writing and informed that he or she is free to
approach the Information Commissioner directly.
Complaints will only be handled by a trained Freedom of
Information Act Key Service Co-ordinator or by a Head of Service, a
Strategic Director or the Chief Executive or by a solicitor
employed by the Council or by its Monitoring Officer.
In all cases, but particularly in the event that the officer
handling the complaint is of less seniority within the Council than
the officer who took the original decision, no officer shall suffer
any employment detriment on account of his or her decision on the
complaint and they shall be afforded the same employment rights and
protection as are afforded by the Public Interest Disclosure Act to
a person who makes a protected disclosure under that Act.
The target time for dealing with all complaints is 20 working
days from receipt of the written complaint or 20 working days from
receipt in writing of such further information in relation to the
complaint or clarification of the complaint as may reasonably have
been required by the person handling the complaint in a letter or
email to the complainant.
Mandatory Steps In All
Cases
All complaints shall be
acknowledged promptly by the officer receiving the email or letter
of complaint. Such acknowledgement shall be by email or letter and
shall inform the complainant of the Council's target times for
determining complaints. If at this time or at any later time it
becomes apparent that determination of the complaint will take
longer than the target time, the complainant must be informed and
given an explanation of the reason for the delay.
The officer in receipt of the complaint shall ensure that
arrangements are made promptly for the handling of the complaint by
an officer mentioned in paragraph 6 above and for such officer
to be provided with all relevant paperwork and other records
relating to the complaint, including any recorded information held
by the Authority in respect of which an exemption has been claimed,
where the same has already been located (provided that this shall
not apply in the case of any information subject to a prohibition
on disclosure as described in Section 44 of the Act – an
example would be where the Council holds an Ethical Standards
Officer's report of an investigation under the Code of Conduct for
Members where unauthorised disclosure is an offence by virtue of
Section 63 of the Local Government Act 2000).
The officer handling the complaint shall inform the complainant
by email or letter of the decision taken in respect of the
complaint. Where the outcome is that information shall be disclosed
which was previously withheld, the information in question must be
disclosed as soon as practicable. If this information is not sent
with the decision on the complaint, the complainant must be
notified in the decision letter or email how soon it will be
disclosed.
The decision shall contain an apology on behalf of the Authority
if the outcome is that the Council's procedures have not been
properly followed either in the handling of the original request or
as regards compliance with the Council's Publication Scheme and an
indication given that the Authority will consider any appropriate
steps to prevent similar errors occurring in the future.
The decision shall include information informing the complainant
of their right to apply to the Information Commissioner, if they
remain dissatisfied, for a decision on whether the request for
information has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements
of Part I of the Act. Full contact details must be included in
the decision.
The officer handling the complaint shall ensure that a record of
the complaint and the outcome is made and passed to the Head of
Customer Services who shall be responsible for reporting at least
annually to the Standards Committee upon all complaints with a view
to them being monitored and, if necessary, recommendations being
made for amending the Council's procedures for dealing with
requests for information where such action is indicated by more
than occasional reversals of initial decisions.
The officer handling the complaint shall also record whether or
not the complaint was determined in accordance with the target
times for determining complaints; this information shall also be
passed to the Head of Customer Services and similarly reported upon
at least annually. Such information shall be published on the
Council's website and by such other means as appropriate.
Head of Member and Democratic
Services
December 2004
Notes:
- This Complaints Procedure is made under the authority given by
the Cabinet on 16 September 2004 (Minute CR/53).
- This Complaints Procedure, and any subsequent amendments to it,
shall be included as part of the Council's Publication Scheme.
- This Complaints Procedure shall be used for complaints under
the Freedom of Information Act and, in the absence of any other
specific procedures, for complaints under the Data Protection Act
and the Environmental Information Regulations in so far as this is
practicable.