Letter to the complainant from the Local Government Ombudsman,
dated 25th March 2011
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10 000 639/B2/JM (Please quote our reference when contacting us) If telephoning contact: Louise McCaig on 02476 xxxxxx or email: xxxxxx@lgo.org.uk Dear Mr Edmunds Complaint against Portsmouth City Council Thank you for your letter of 1 March 2011. You complain that although you requested that neither Mr Pollard nor Mr Jones should be involved with your complaint, Mr Pollard signed the covering letter of 21 February 2011 to our provisional statement of reasons on your complaint. When an investigator has interviewed council officers or members it is our standard practice that the file is reviewed by the relevant Assistant Ombudsman, who signs off the correspondence. That is what happened in this case. Both members of staff enjoy my full confidence and I saw no reason to vary those arrangements in your case. I say this in the context of Mr Jones's letter to you of 1 December 2010, in which he invited you to substantiate or withdraw allegations you had made against members of my staff, including Mr Pollard. Since you have failed to substantiate those allegations there is no basis for your request that named members of staff should have no involvement with your complaint. For the avoidance of doubt, Mr Pollard did not have any involvement in your complaint reference 06/B/02324, to which you refer in your correspondence. I note that you will be unavailable between 15 March and 17 April 2011 and therefore unable to reply further. ! note that Mr Pollard invited you to reply to the provisional statement of reasons by 14 March 2011, before your departure, so there is no reason why we should not now proceed to a final decision in the light of the comments in the appendix to your letter. However, on this occasion I am prepared to extend the deadline for your comments until the end of April 2011. If we do not hear from you by then we shall take a final decision based on the information available. Yours sincerely Dr Jane Martin Local Government Ombudsman |