Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr A’s complaint that the Council failed to answer a question about educational provision for his grandson. This is because the substantive issue relates to the provision of education within a school and the Ombudsman cannot consider which matters.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr A, complains that the Council failed to answer a question about the provision of education for his grandson.

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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 complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
4. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered what Mr A has said in support of his complaint and his response to my draft decision.

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What I found

6. Mr A says his grandson was attending a small school at which he was the only Year 1 pupil. His family had concerns about the lack of peers of a similar age and about the school’s ability to deliver an appropriate curriculum. Mr A says the family asked the Council to confirm that it would deliver an appropriate curriculum. He complains that it failed to respond, other than to make general points.
7. Mr A says the Council’s failure to answer the question put to it caused his grandson’s parents to place his grandson at another school. He argues that this has caused him injustice, in that he now has a journey of an hour to collect his grandson from school.
8. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr A’s complaint. The substantive matter concerns the delivery of the curriculum in a school. The law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate such matters. We cannot consider how the Council responded, or failed to respond, to a question about a matter which is itself outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it relates to a matter which falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman