MPs call for probe into 'missing' council complaints

Many of the complaints about Surrey County Council to the ombudsman are linked to education.

Six MPs have called for an investigation into why some information on complaints about Surrey County Council was not published for more than a year.

A council document in September showed the number of complaints between 2022-23 and 2023-24 increased by more than 50%, particularly about the provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Liberal Democrat MPs wrote to the council’s Conservative leader, Tim Oliver, saying they wanted to understand why data from reports to the audit and governance committee was “missing” for 14 months from June 2023.

Surrey County Council said it was "fully transparent" in its reporting of complaints information.

The letter, signed by Chris Coghlan in Dorking and Horley, Zoe Franklin in Guildford, Will Forster in Woking, Monica Harding in Esher and Walton, Helen Maguire in Epsom and Ewell and Al Pinkerton in Surrey Heath, said the level of complaints about education, particularly SEND, was over 10 times the national average.

Overall, there were 324 complaints about the county council in 2023-24 compared to 215 in 2022-23.

Of the 2023-24 complaints, 158 were investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman, compared to 81 the previous year.

The MPs said there had been “multiple requests” by councillors for information on how Surrey County Council compares with other local authorities on complaints to be included in official reports.

“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,” the letter said.

“This data omission represents a serious breach of governance,” it added.

The MPs have called for several actions, including an independent investigation into the processes on publishing details about the complaints.

In its document, the council said a Local Government Ombudsman report from July had identified areas for improvements.

Oliver said the council was "fully transparent" in its reporting of complaints data

“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 said.

"We have also caught up on the backlog of Education, Health and Care needs assessments."

The council leader added this work was leading to a reduction in complaints to the authority about delays in completing assessments and it was "fully focused on this vital improvement work".