Contribution by Andrew Willoughby

Comment by: Andrew Willoughby

Focus area: Volunteer events

Regulator concerned: My comments are general and do not relate to a particular regulator or regulatory function

Comment:
I have many experiences of where something simple has been made complicated and longwinded. This website asking for experiences is typical, far too long, too wordy, and of course I haven’t read everything to reach here.

I often work with many council officers from different departments of the Borough Council. Many are just not interested in helping and simply seem to put obstacles in our way without suggesting a way forward. A few officeras are different and always suggest a helpful way forward, this is what makes the difference. An example is Risk Assessments. I was told I must complete a six page risk assessment form because it was the format they used. I found a one page form that would do the same job, then I investigated with a different department of the same council and found we didn’t need to do risk assessments at all.

Unhelpful officer says…have you got all the permissions?
Helpful officer says…. you need permissions A, B and C. Do you need any help with those?