Summary: Mr X is unhappy about the Council’s consideration of his complaint that a member of an inshore fishery authority gave misleading information to the public about threats to the local fish stocks. The Ombudsman cannot investigate, as this impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains a member of an inshore fishery authority gave misleading information to the public about threats to local fish stocks. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s consideration of his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint.

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What I found

5. Mr X complains that a member of an inshore fishery gave misleading information about what he considered to be the main threats to local fish stocks.
6. Mr X says the public have been misled and the comments should be retracted.

Assessment

7. Mr X complains about an injustice to the public and gives no indication that he may have been affected more or less than any other person in the Council’s area.
8. The Ombudsman has no legal remit to investigate complaints that impact upon the public at large.
9. Mr X is not caused a level of injustice from how the Council considered his complaint to warrant our involvement in that as a separate matter.

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Final decision

10. My decision is that the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint as the injustice claimed is to the general public. Such complaints are outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman