Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse Mr X’s request to speak at a public meeting. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision, and any injustice Mr X experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council refused his request to speak at a public meeting.
2. Mr X said this caused frustration.
3. Mr X wants the Council to publicly apologise.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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:

• 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), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. When refusing Mr X’s request to speak at the public meeting, the Council provided him with its policy that informed its decision.
8. I have also reviewed the content of the speech that Mr X intended to make to the public meeting.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether Mr X disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
10. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision to justify investigating.
11. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
12. As Mr X says in his complaint to us he has not been significantly affected by the Council’s decision, any injustice he has experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, and any injustice he experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman