Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to the complainant’s requests for information. This is because it concerns information which was before a court, and the law prevents us from investigating such matters.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council has failed to respond to her request for information requested by a judge, shared confidential information without her consent, failed to correct inaccurate information, and has declined to escalate her subsequent complaint.

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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. 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. Miss X has been party to legal proceedings in the course of which she says the Council provided false information to the Court. She says that in December 2024 the Judge asked her to provide the Court with responses to the false information. In order to do so, she contacted the Council requesting clarification of aspects of the information it had provided. She complains that the Council did not respond and that, as a result, the Court made decisions on the basis of the false information.
8. The law prevents the Ombudsman from investigating this matter. We cannot investigate what happens in court, including information used in legal proceedings. This restriction applies to the content of evidence provided by councils. Miss X’s request for information was related to the legal proceedings and we cannot therefore consider it. We have no discretion on this point.
9. Miss X further complains that the Council has refused to change what she regards as inaccurate information in its records, and has shared confidential information. These are matters which relate to data handling and protection and Miss X’s recourse is to bring her concerns to the attention of the Information Commissioner’s Office. There is no role for the Ombudsman.
10. Where a substantive matter does not fall to be investigated, we will not normally investigate how a council has responded to a complaint about it. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That is the case here.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because is concerns information which was used in Court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman