Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaints about the sharing of her daughter’s personal data with other family members and the content and completion of various adult social care and mental capacity assessments. Either the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider these complaints, the matters should have been raised in court or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council:
• inappropriately shared her daughter, Ms Z’s, personal data;
• falsified various documents relating to Ms Z; and
• failed to have good reason to, and failed to follow, the correct procedures when it carried out various adult social care and mental capacity assessments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or

• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

4. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint for the following reasons:
• much of what she complains about relates to access to information and alleged data protection breaches. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to deal with this type of complaint;
• as the Council has explained, if Ms X was unhappy with how it carried out Ms Z’s mental capacity or other assessments, or believes it falsified information, she could have raised this as part of the court case brought to consider various aspects of Ms Z’s care;
• with various other documents or assessments, the Council has said if Ms X wishes, she can sent it her comments and it will place them on file. Further investigation would achieve nothing more.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is or was another body better placed to consider the issues she raised.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman