Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents or preparation of reports to the courts. This is because the law prevents us from investigating matters that have been considered in court. Other matters have either not caused Mr X a significant enough injustice or are better considered by the Information Commissioner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council was late submitting a report to court and that the report was inaccurate. Mr X says the Council breached data protection regulations when sharing someone else’s information with him and that its communication with him was poor.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. 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)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the preparation and contents of reports. This is because these are matters that have been subject to court proceedings. The law says we cannot consider complaints about the preparation of evidence and reports for court proceedings.
8. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a possible breach of data protection regulations. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are better placed to deal with concerns about data protection.
9. Finally, I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about poor communication by the Council. This is because this alone has not caused an injustice significant enough to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating matters that have been considered in court. Other matters have either not caused Mr X a significant enough injustice or are better considered by the ICO.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman