Coventry City Council (23 009 483)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Oct 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X complaint about children services actions. We cannot investigate issues involved in Court proceedings.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s children services actions.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X lives in country Q. He is the father to Y. In March 2021, Y’s mother, Z, left Q with Y without Mr X’s or a court’s consent. The Council began court care proceedings which included the Court ordering a psychiatric assessment of Z in February 2022. Foster carers looked after Y.
- In September 2022 it is alleged that Z tried to take Y from a contact centre without consent. The statements claim Z assaulted Council officers. Y was not removed from the centre, but it is claimed they were distressed by the incident.
- I understand the Court proceedings finished in 2023 and Y will return to country Q.
- Mr X says the Council should never have allowed the September 2022 incident to have occurred. He also says the Council has not given accurate information to the Court or parties during the Court proceedings. He says the Council’s conduct contributed to the final outcome and contaminated the entire proceedings.
Analysis
- We cannot investigate anything which is part of court proceedings. This includes the evidence given by officers to the Court, or to other parties during the proceedings. We cannot investigate anything the Court could have ordered or decided. This includes contact arrangements during the course of the proceedings.
- Mr X says the Council gave inaccurate information to authorities in country Q. Passing inaccurate information to a third party is potentially a data protection breach. Mr X has the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider this as there are complex exemptions for child protection case files.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate issues which have or could have been part of Court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman