The LGO its Future

Address to Jane Martin

Having tried to contact Jane Martin

There is no doubt from Jane Martins address that a common goal is to seek better accountability - no one is above the law and that must include all  local authorities however there is a general feeling that the service user does not know better and the elected  mandate is pure . Given the extraordinary might of many local authorities process is wholly biassed toward the assumption that what the authority tells the investigator is fact

Perhaps in the majority of cases LA have elected members who have very much public interest at heart. Regretably though there is a thin blue line that is often crossed in councils that are overtly politically led . The cases currently being presented in these circumstances show a number of trends

• Politically led Officer bias
• Tactical exclusion of those with an alternative view
• In extreme cases collusion 
• Group Think

In reality elected members in some councils carry an over bearing conflict of interest when it comes to acting in middle management positions within cabinet and representing constituents . These positions in larger metropolitan s often carry salaries in excess of £40K on top of basic and allowance. That , I believe , is not a price any one would wish to pay to be disenfranchised. Of course Cabinet Port Folio Holders create a cheap form of middle management but more often that not the average councillor significantly lacks in experience

In many cases LA authorities constitutions are outdated and not fit for purpose and schemes of delegation not sufficient to establish the thin blue line between statute and local authority governance

This is also a Philosophy in our believe that also applies to Police and Crime Commisioners that those elected from a political background carry to much baggage to be impartial about policing issues in districts where politics dictates agaenda

The LGO is a highly organised structure with high level executive salaries . It follows that service users expect the highest standard of complaint handing and impartial investigation in the interest of social justice and for that matter justice. As this website evolves and casework comes in we will be able to offer another independent point of view from the service user 

In the meantime we shall shortly be submitting an FOI to  the LGO top establish an independent statistical analysis of complaint handling within the organisation