Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that she was not allowed to ask a question about spending at a Council meeting. This is because the injustice caused to Ms X from this is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains she was not allowed to ask a question about Council spending at a Council meeting.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Ms X said in her complaint and her response to my draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

5. Miss X complains she was not allowed to ask a specific question about Council spending at a Council meeting.

Back to top

Final decision

6. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint as Ms X is not affected to a degree that would warrant our involvement.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman