Issue - meetings

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) provides an independent and impartial service to investigate complaints about Councils, or actions taken by another body on behalf of the Council.

The LGSCO provides a report annually which details the number of enquiries, investigations and resolved complaints for each authority in the past financial year. BCP Council’s annual report is attached as Appendix A

The 2019/20 report shows that the number of enquiries to the LGSCO have risen slightly, as have the investigations, but there has been a fall in the number of investigations upheld by the Ombudsman to 50%.

There are no major concerns relating to LGSCO findings.

The Director of Organisational Development presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Committee was reminded that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) provided an independent and impartial service to investigate complaints about Councils, or actions taken by another body on behalf of the Council.

It was explained that the LGSCO provided a report annually which detailed the number of enquiries, investigations and resolved complaints for each authority in the past financial year. BCP Council’s annual report had been circulated to the Committee.

The 2019/20 report showed that the number of enquiries to the LGSCO had risen slightly, as had investigations, but that there had been a fall in the number of investigations upheld by the Ombudsman to 50%. The report included an analysis of the complaints subject to detailed investigation and a summary of the financial implications arising.

It was reported that there were no identifiable trends in the subjects of complaints and that all recommendations had been actioned to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction. There were no major concerns relating to LGSCO findings and BCP Council was performing well in relation to the national picture.

Members raised questions about comparison with previous years. It was explained that direct comparison with with previous years was difficult as the earlier figures related to the three legacy Councils rather than to BCP Council although, going forward, year by year outcomes and trends would be a key part of the annual reporting process.

The Committee requested that they receive clarification of certain identified data within the report and the detailed Ombudsman report in addition to the summary already supplied to them. Undertakings were given to provide the information requested.

RESOLVED that Members of the Audit and Governance Committee note the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Reports for 2019/20.

Voting: Unanimous