Lawmakers Request Inquiry into Undisclosed Council Complaint Data

Six Members of Parliament have demanded an inquiry into the non-disclosure of certain complaint data concerning Surrey County Council for over a year. A document released by the council in September indicated that the volume of complaints between the fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 rose by over 50%, with a notable focus on the provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament addressed a letter to Tim Oliver, the council’s Conservative leader, expressing their desire to ascertain why data from audit and governance committee reports had been “missing” for a period of 14 months, starting from June 2023. Surrey County Council asserted its “full transparency” regarding the disclosure of complaints information. The correspondence, bearing the signatures of Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley), Zoe Franklin (Guildford), Will Forster (Woking), Monica Harding (Esher and Walton), Helen Maguire (Epsom and Ewell), and Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath), stated that the rate of complaints concerning education, especially SEND, exceeded the national average by more than tenfold. In total, the county council received 324 complaints during 2023-24, an increase from 215 in 2022-23. Out of the complaints filed in 2023-24, 158 underwent investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman, whereas 81 were investigated in the preceding year. The Members of Parliament indicated that councillors had made “multiple requests” for comparative data on Surrey County Council’s complaint performance against other local authorities to be incorporated into official reports. The letter stated: “It is our view that the failure to disclose the true extent of these issues prevented councillors, and stakeholders, including the public, from identifying the systemic failures within Surrey’s services for that time and delayed necessary interventions.” It further added: “This data omission represents a serious breach of governance.” The MPs have advocated for several measures, among them an independent inquiry into the procedures for publishing complaint details. Within its document, the council noted that a Local Government Ombudsman report issued in July had highlighted areas requiring improvement. Oliver reiterated that the council maintained “full transparency” in its reporting of complaints data. He stated: “Our investment and improvement programme is now delivering clear performance improvements, including our EHCP (Education, Health and Care plan) timeliness which has improved significantly, with the proportion of plans being issued on time now well above the national average.” He continued: “We have also caught up on the backlog of Education, Health and Care needs assessments.” The council leader further mentioned that these efforts were contributing to a decrease in complaints to the authority regarding assessment completion delays, and that the council was “fully focused on this vital improvement work”.