Leeds City Council (20 006 709)
Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 30 Nov 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council hired a drag performer to read stories to young children. This is because this did not cause a significant injustice to Ms X.
The complaint
- Ms X complained the Council hired a drag performer to read stories to young children. Ms X says this decision did not meet the Council’s Public Sector Equality Duty, as drag queens are a caricature of women and this particular performer also makes fun of a disability. Ms X says this caused her upset, as she has young children.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Ms X provided when she complained to us.
- I gave Ms X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
What I found
- The Council hired a drag artist to read stories to preschool children. Ms X complained to the Council as she says in doing so, it did not have regard to its Public Sector Equality Duty. She complained the Council was not promoting equality and diversity and was teaching children it is acceptable to parody women and make fun of a disability.
- We will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the service provider. Ms X says the issue caused her upset, as she has young children. This is not a significant personal injustice that warrants the Ombudsman’s involvement.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint, because the issue Ms X complains about did not cause her a significant personal injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman