Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr B’s personal data and his subject access request. This is because there is another body better placed to consider the matter.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr B, complains about the Council’s handling of his personal data in its child safeguarding report for his daughter. He says it:

• failed to share its report with him and comply with his subject access request; and
• failed to keep records of its changes to its original report.

2. He says these actions amounts to a breach of data protection rights.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection or a subject access request. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered Mr B’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I have also considered Mr B’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. The Council produced a child safeguarding report in 2016 for Mr B’s daughter. Mr B says the report contained information about him. He wanted to know if the information held was correct and asked the Council to share it with him.
7. Mr B says the Council shared the report with him. He says it told him it had made changes to the report on two occasions in 2016. He says the version the Council shared with him did not show what information it had changed. Mr B asked the Council for a copy of the original report and raised a subject access request. He also asked the Council why it did not change the date of the original report after it made changes to it.
8. In the Council’s response Mr B says it told him it could not get the original version from its computer system. He also says it failed to answer his questions. Mr B says because of this the Council has breached his data protection rights and complained to the Information Commissioner (ICO) and the Ombudsman.

Assessment

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because ICO is better placed to do so. The ICO considers complaints about data protection and subject access requests, and the Ombudsman normally expects complainants to bring their concerns to its attention. This is appropriate here and Mr B has already complained to the ICO.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr B’s personal data and his subject access request. This is because there is another body better placed to consider the matter.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman