Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s potential responsibility for a data breach. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider responsibility for the breach. We cannot investigate court action.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said the Council was responsible for a data breach that saw her personal information shared with another family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) exists to establish where there have been data breaches and who is responsible for them. Given the Council denies it was responsible for the breach that occurred, it would be for the ICO to consider that.
8. The breach occurred at the time of the filing of papers with a court for a court case. The likely involvement of a court order concerning the filing of papers for a case suggests that, even if responsibility for the breach were not disputed, we would be unable to investigate the matter complained of. This is because the filing of papers for a court is part of court action.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:

• the ICO is better placed to attribute responsibility for the data breach; and
• we cannot investigate court action or what happened in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman