Somerset West and Taunton Council (20 006 830)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Dec 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her subject access request. This is because complaints about data issues are best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s delay in responding to her subject access request. Miss X believes the Council’s response to her data request may be incomplete.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
- 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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Miss X provided. I sent Miss X a draft of my decision and invited her comments on it.
What I found
- Miss X complains about the Council’s delay in responding to her subject access request, as it took 6 months to respond. Miss X also questions whether the Council provided all the data she requested.
- The Council has upheld Miss X’s complaint about its delay in responding to her information request as it failed to respond within the maximum statutory timeframe.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because complaints about data protection matters, such as this, are best considered and decided by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman