Dear Mr. Dowling,
Complaint against Mr. Kevin Fox made on 21st February
Your complaint of 21st February has been passed to me. On 14th February you
submitted a question for the next full Council meeting on 6th March. You also
requested that if the Council’s position is that your address should be
published alongside this question, Mr Fox and the Council’s Data Controller
should confirm that the Council in so doing is fully adhering to the
requirements of the Data Protection Act.
You subsequently e mailed on 21st February complaining that Mr. Fox had not
responded to your e mail in accordance with the Council’s correspondence policy.
The Council’s policy is that we will respond to email correspondence within five
working days of receipt. Where this is not possible, an acknowledgement should be
sent clearly stating when a full response will be provided. Mr. Fox accepts
that he did not meet these requirements and I apologise for this.
The meetings of Council on 6th March were an Extraordinary Meeting and Budget
Council Meeting. Questions may be submitted only to ordinary meetings of the
Council. The next such meeting is on 24th April.
You will be aware that it is a matter for the Mayor to determine if questions
should be accepted. That consideration has not yet taken place and will be
arranged in the few weeks before the meeting of the 24th April Mr. Fox should
have acknowledged your e mail and advised you that you would receive a response
once the Mayor had considered whether your question complies with the requirements
set out in the Council’s constitution. I understand that you should receive a
response in early April.
You have also asked for the latest audit and/or publication of these
correspondence statistics. This request has, I understand, also been made as
a formal Freedom of Information request under our reference 12.1489 and you will
receive a response in due course under that request.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome and wish to progress to Stage
2 of our complaints process, please provide details of why my response has not
resolved your complaint and what action you would require as a resolution.
If you would like your complaint reviewed by Paul Moore, Director of Customer and
Corporate Services, please write to him directly at:
Civic Offices
Broadway
Bexleyheath
Kent
DA6 7LB
Your sincerely
Nick Hollier
Deputy Director HR and Corporate Support