investigation Tag

Council upset parishes over area partnership

Angry parish councillors in Northumberland have accused the county council of reneging on a promise to consult them properly over the establishment of a key umbrella organisation. A cluster of parishes claim they were not allowed effective input to the process which led to the formation of the North Northumberland Area Partnership (NNAP) – which [...]

Council theft may be inside job yet no suspects found

INVESTIGATIONS into the mysterious theft of nearly £1,500 from Harrow Civic Centre – which auditors said had an ‘indication of staff involvement’ – have failed to uncover a suspect. Harrow Council had fought to keep the report into the incident confidential, but the Information Commissioner’s Office backed the Observer’s Freedom of Information request and ordered [...]

Plymouth City Council fined £8000 for WEEE breach

Plymouth City Council has been fined £8,000 for allowing unauthorised firms to remove and sell unwanted computers from its waste plants. The council breached the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) by letting firms take computers and other electronic items without checking that they were bona fide recyclers. The Environment Agency took the council [...]

Compensation claims against Lambeth Council increase by 500 per cent

Compensation paid out by Lambeth Council for its mistakes increased by 500 per cent last year, it has emerged. The town hall paid out £118,812 in compensation in 2009-10 compared to £19,706 in 2008-09, according to a council report. The increase comes as it emerged the council received about twice as many complaints about its [...]

Colchester Council is told: Hand over Vaf info – or else

COLCHESTER Council has been ordered – on pain of prosecution – to release secret papers about the building of the town’s controversial new arts facility. The Government’s official information watchdog has severely criticised the council for trying to keep private information about the unfinished and hugely over-budget Visual Arts Facility. An investigation by the Information [...]

Three jailed over £1.3m adult learning contracts scam

Three people have been jailed over an adult learning skills contracts scam in Shropshire. Paul Kent, 46, of Telford, admitted receiving about £300,000 in kickbacks from Learning Skills Council contracts worth £1.3m, which he granted to his co-defendants. He was jailed for four and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court. Silinder Singh Sidhu, of [...]

North Tyneside guilty of maladministration after barring resident from meetings

The Local Government Ombudsman has found North Tyneside Council guilty of maladministration after it barred a man from council meetings. The Ombudsman, Anne Seex, recommended that the local authority train staff on the public’s right to attend meetings and established public law principles in relation to administrative decision-making. Mr H’s relationship with various representatives of [...]

Council should “do the right thing” over King’s Park fines, say lawyers

“WE must have justice in our own back yard” – that’s the warning from a leading lawyers’ group that believes Bournemouth council must refund £100,000 of traffic fines. The Bournemouth and District Law Society is among those calling for the council to “do the right thing” and repay the thousands of motorists who were fined [...]

Council Pays £60k Following Complaints

COMPLAINTS against Cardiff council to a local government watchdog have resulted in payouts totalling more than £60,000, the Echo can reveal. The data, released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the Public Services Ombudsman has investigated 422 complaints into the council over the past five years. In 75 of these investigations the council was [...]

Frail and elderly people wait years for basic disability equipment

Frail pensioners are being forced to wait up to eight years for vital improvements to be made to their homes to help them live independent lives again, an investigation has found. Many elderly people waited so long for help that they were moved into care homes before help was provided Photo: PA Charities said elderly [...]