How hard are your councillors working to stand up for you in Hounslow ?

It's a difficult question to answer, but exclusive new figures show a huge variation in the amount of casework being handled through Hounslow Council 's official portal.

Council leader Steve Curran raised 477 pieces of casework through the council's computer system during 2015/16, while 14 councillors - nearly a quarter of the 60 in the borough - submitted fewer than 10.

Councillors' casework can include issues brought to their attention by residents and businesses, ranging from faulty paving to housing complaints, or matters members have identified independently.

Queries raised via the council's casework team are supposed to be handled by the relevant council officer, who is expected to investigate and report back within 10 days.

It is important to note that the figures, exclusively obtained by getwestlondon , are not necessarily an accurate reflection of how much work councillors are taking on.

Councillors also raising issues via Twitter and Facebook

Many councillors have said they prefer to report matters directly to council officers or contractors via email, Twitter or in person - and figures for such queries are not recorded by the council.

Syon ward councillor Theo Dennison, for example, said he dealt directly with the cabinet members or officers responsible for the matter in question.

Councillor Gurpal Virdi, who raised the second highest amount of casework

He told getwestlondon he reported environmental problems, like fly-tipping, directly to the council or to the street cleaning contractor Hounslow Highways via Twitter.

It is also unsurprising that Councillor Curran raised nearly twice as many cases through the portal as the next councillor on the list, Gurpal Virdi, with 240.

As the council supremo he is likely to attract more queries or complaints from residents or businesses looking to go straight to the top.

'Casework tends to involve more complex matters'

Councillor Curran recognised that generating casework through the council portal was just one of many ways to handle queries from residents.

He said councillors were encouraged to use all forms of communication, including Twitter and Facebook, to engage with their residents and take up issues on their behalf.

"Elected members can raise issues in a variety of ways," he said.

"Generating 'casework' is one but in many instances, questions and queries can be handled in less formal ways such as reporting issues directly through our website, email exchanges, telephone calls, surgeries and residents' meetings.

"Councillors are also using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to deal with issues raised by local residents, which can range from housing issues to street lighting.

"Casework tends to involve more complex matters and these do not necessarily occur on the same number of occasions for all members. Some, for instance, may result from issues in particular parts of the borough."

When councillors report a matter to the council's casework team, they are supposed to receive a response within 10 days, though more complex matters can take longer.

Concerns about quality of council reporting system

Some councillors have told us they choose to circumvent the official reporting system because they find it difficult to use or because they get answers more quickly via other routes.

Cllr Dennison said the council was keen to get councillors to use the members casework system to log issues, but that he found the response rate poor.

He said the only enquiries of his that were logged on the system were those where council officers responding to direct enquiries had added them.

As for the quality of the system, he said the reports he had received when using it previously only told him that the enquiry had been closed.

He said they included no information on what action had been taken, making it tricky for him to update his constituents.

How much casework is your councillor handling?

Council ward Councillor Party Casework raised during 2015/16 Casework closed in 2015/16
Bedfont Keith Anderson Labour 4 4
Bedfont Sam Christie Labour 174 178
Bedfont Sachin Gupta Labour 11 11
Brentford Mel Collins Labour 69 78
Brentford Guy Lambert Labour 49 41
Brentford Myra Savin Labour 29 25
Chiswick Homefields Gerald McGregor Conservative 14 14
Chiswick Homefields Robert Oulds Conservative 23 27
Chiswick Homefields John Todd Conservative 118 118
Chiswick Riverside Felicity Barwood Conservative N/A N/A
Chiswick Riverside Sam Hearn Conservative 23 16
Chiswick Riverside Paul Lynch Conservative 46 41
Cranford Sukhbir Dhaliwal Labour 2 2
Cranford Daanish Saeed Labour 19 22
Cranford Gurpal Virdi Labour 240 233
Feltham North John Chatt Labour 51 54
Feltham North Khulique Malik Labour 52 53
Feltham North Hina Mir Labour 7 8
Feltham West David Hughes Labour 1 1
Feltham West Elizabeth Hughes Labour 4 4
Feltham West Alan Mitchell Labour 57 61
Hanworth Candice Atterton Labour 6 5
Hanworth Samia Chaudhary Labour 12 10
Hanworth Richard Foote Labour 51 48
Hanworth Park Bishnu Gurung Labour 52 55
Hanworth Park Tina Howe Labour 8 7
Hanworth Park Hanif Khan Labour 31 31
Heston Central Harleen Atwal Hear Labour 13 15
Heston Central Manjit Buttar Labour 9 9
Heston Central Surinder Purewal Labour 3 3
Heston East Kamaljit Kaur Labour 8 8
Heston East Gurmail Lal Labour 14 13
Heston East Amrit Mann Labour 81 79
Heston West Lily Bath Labour 28 34
Heston West Rajinder Bath Labour 13 11
Heston West Shantanu Rajawat Labour 13 13
Hounslow Central Ajmer Grewal Labour 10 11
Hounslow Central Pritam Grewal Labour 49 47
Hounslow Central Nisar Malik Labour 10 10
Hounslow Heath Colin Ellar Labour 10 12
Hounslow Heath Mukesh Malhotra Labour 164 161
Hounslow Heath Corinna Smart Labour 18 18
Hounslow South Tom Bruce Labour 83 86
Hounslow South Shaida Mehrban Labour 18 17
Hounslow South Bob Whatley Labour 16 16
Hounslow West Bandna Chopra Labour 29 28
Hounslow West Puneet Grewal Labour 9 11
Hounslow West Jagdish Sharma Labour 9 9
Isleworth Linda Green Labour 35 33
Isleworth Ed Mayne Labour 85 87
Isleworth Sue Sampson Labour 127 123
Osterley & Spring Grove Peter Carey Conservative 3 3
Osterley & Spring Grove Tony Louki Labour 144 147
Osterley & Spring Grove Sheila O'Reilly Conservative 43 42
Syon Steve Curran Labour 477 480
Syon Theo Dennison Labour 7 3
Syon Katherine Dunne Labour 15 14
Turnham Green Samantha Davies Conservative 16 16
Turnham Green Adrian Lee Conservative 10 10
Turnham Green Peter Thompson Conservative 21 19

* figures only include casework raised through the official council portal