Cornwall Council (22 015 640)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions concerning Mrs X’s family’s data and evidence it provided to or gave in court. The matters complained are not separable from court action.
The complaint
- Mrs X said the Council gained access to her family’s sensitive information, shared it, and used it against her daughter in a family court. She said the Council lied, committed perjury, broke an agreement with the police, ignored her rights under article 8 of the Human Rights Act, committed a criminal act and would not respond further to her complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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 have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
- The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The matters complained of are not separable from matters that either happened in court or could reasonably have been raised in court. Decisions about residency of a child and alleged criminal actions such as perjury are always court matters. The Council’s actions in procuring evidence for the court, and whether it breached the Human Rights Act could also have been raised in court and are not separable matters we can investigate here.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the matters complained of are not separable from court action.
- We cannot investigate the way the Council dealt with the complaint because the matters complained of are not ones we can investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman