Decision report 201002566

Summary
Mr C is a member of the board of a charitable trust. He complained on their behalf that senior officers of the council acted to the detriment of the trust. In particular he alleged that the council's chief executive misrepresented information to the council and that the director of finance delayed in his dealings with the trust. Mr C told us that, as a consequence, the trust failed to receive monies they said they had been guaranteed.

The investigation showed that the chief executive had complied appropriately with the directions of an appeal panel that had reviewed the circumstances of Mr C's complaint. We found, however, that the director of finance delayed in responding to some correspondence for around six months. This was too long, and we upheld this element of the complaint.

Recommendations
We recommended that:
• the director of finance should provide a formal, written apology to the trust acknowledging his failure to respond in a timely manner to their correspondence; and
• the council emphasise to all their staff the importance of responding timeously to members of the public who have taken the trouble to write to them.