Wiltshire Council (21 006 604)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Sep 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not providing the information he wants. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council has refused to provide him with information about him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X which included the Council’s reply to him.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I considered Mr X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.
My assessment
- Mr X believes that the Council’s children services team holds concerns about him. He believes this stems from one family whom he believes have reported concerns to the Council. He says the Council has labelled him. He says the Council has refused to provide this information about him. He says he would like full details of the concerns raised so he can clear his name.
- The Data Protection Acts give Mr X the power to ask the Council to disclose the information it holds about him. This is called a Subject Access Request (SAR). Parliament gave the Information Commissioner’s Office the role of overseeing and enforcing SAR compliance. It is better suited to consider Mr X’s request for information.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman