South Hams District Council (23 005 833)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to pursue a Code of Conduct complaint made against a councillor. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s decision not to uphold the complaint she had made against a councillor.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- One of the criteria for the Council to consider Member conduct complaints is that the councillor complained about must be a serving councillor.
- I have seen information showing the Council reconsidered Ms X’s previous complaint about a councillor in the light of new information. This alleged a councillor had breached the Members Code of Conduct in relation to a matter which impacted Ms X.
- However, the Council decided it could not proceed as the councillor complained of was no longer a serving councillor.
- We do not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints, but we can consider if there was fault in the way the council considered the complaint.
- The Council’s Monitoring Officer reconsidered the complaint in the light of new information provided by Ms X but decided it did not meet the criteria for Code of Conduct complaints. There is no information to suggest fault affected the Council’s decision.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman