Summary: We will not investigate Councillor X’s complaint about how the Council handled their complaint about the actions of another councillor (Councillor Z). It is unlikely we would find fault.

The complaint

1. Councillor X complained on behalf of a member of public, that there was fault in the way the Council’s Monitoring Officer investigated his complaints about another councillor (Councillor Z). Specifically, he complained the Council failed to inform him when it closed the case and also took no further action when Councillor Z refused to follow the Monitoring Officer’s recommendation that they apologise. Councillor X also says the Monitoring Officer failed to address the wider issues of Councillor Z’s misogyny.
2. He said that as a result people will lose trust and confidence in the Council if it fails to deal properly with their concerns.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Councils must have a code of conduct which sets out the standards the Council, its officers and councillors must maintain. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about code of conduct breaches. The Council’s Monitoring Officer is responsible for handling code of conduct complaints.
7. The Ombudsman does not provide an appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decision. We can only look at how the complaint was considered. We are also unable to investigate or comment on the actions of the councillors complained about.
8. The Monitoring Officer dealt with Councillor X’s concerns in line with the Council’s criteria for code of conduct complaints. This included consideration of whether Councillor Z’s comments were misogynistic. The Monitoring Officer can only make recommendations, they cannot compel a councillor to follow them. Therefore, it is unlikely I would find fault.
9. Councillor X is unhappy the Monitoring Officer closed the case without informing him. Any potential fault or injustice over this issue is not enough to warrant further investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Councillor X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman