Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about inappropriate use of the electoral register as this does not cause the complainant a significant personal injustice. Additionally, we cannot investigate the actions of parish councils and complaints about data handling are best dealt with by the Information Commissioner's Office.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains a parish council asked the Council to search the full electoral register to find the personal details of an individual. Mr X says there was no lawful basis for this to be done and that it was, has seriously undermined his trust in local governance.

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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 investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as parish councils. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), 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)
5. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We cannot investigate the actions of parish councils, as per paragraph three, and so we cannot investigate the request made by the parish council.
9. I recognise that Mr X has strong feelings about what took place but from our perspective, he was not caused a level of personal injustice that would warrant our further involvement.
10. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's data protection regulator and is best placed to investigate a complaint about data misuse.
11. For these reasons, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he was not caused a level of personal injustice that would justify our further involvement, we cannot investigate the actions of parish councils and the matter is best dealt with by the ICO.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman