Buckinghamshire County Council (19 014 821)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 15 Dec 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms A’s complaint about the Council’s response to a Freedom of Information request. This is because she may bring the matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner and it would be reasonable for her to do so.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Ms A, complains about the Council's handling of her complaint following its response to a Freedom of Information request.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Ms A has said in support of her complaint and the correspondence she has provided. I have also considered her response to my draft decision.
What I found
- Ms A made a Freedom of Information request to the Council. The Council responded by issuing a Refusal Notice. Ms A made a formal complaint to the Council and is unhappy with its response. The Council regards the matter as closed and has referred Mrs A to the Information Commissioner.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms A’s complaint. If she is unhappy with the Council’s response to her Freedom of Information request her recourse is to bring the matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner, who is better placed than the Ombudsman to consider it. She has a specific right of appeal against the Refusal Notice. Where appeal rights exist, the Ombudsman expects them to be used.
- The Ombudsman will not normally investigate a complaint about complaint-handling where the substantive matter does not fall to us to consider. This is because it is not possible to do so in isolation from the substantive matter.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Ms A may bring the substantive matter to the attention of the Information Commissioner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman