Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about data protection issues. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office which is better placed to consider her complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council has not told her who gave her details to its children services team.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify the cost of our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint which included the Council’s replies to her. Ms X had an opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. Ms X says she approached the Council’s adult social care team for support. She says someone passed on her details to the Council’s children services team. She asked the Council to confirm who it was.
6. The Council in reply said it was a member of the adult social care team or Ms X’s MP. Ms X is not happy with this. She would like to know the name of the person.
7. Ms X has asked the Council to provide its records. This is called a Data Protection Act ‘subject access request’. Ms X believes this may not provide the information she wants.

Analysis

8. Parliament set up the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to decide if the Data Protection Act has been breached. Passing on information about someone to another person without consent can be a breach. Refusing to provide details about a person’s data movements can also be a breach.
9. We do not usually investigate a complaint which is solely about Data Protection Act issues. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to complain to the ICO.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because the ICO is better placed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman