Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a subject access request. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complainant has already complained to the Information Commissioner who was better placed to investigate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to provide him with a document he needed (due to a dispute with a neighbour). Mr X also says the Council failed to answer properly his complaints about the inconsistencies in its responses. And the Information Commissioner referred him to us to consider these issues further.
2. Mr X accepts there may be no remedy if the document in question is lost. However, he would like the Ombudsman to investigate the Council’s responses to him so the Council can be held ‘accountable’.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)
4. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered all the information provided by the complainant which includes the Council’s response.
6. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My Assessment

7. Mr X has already complained to the Information Commissioner (ICO) who he says issued the Council with a ‘mild rebuke.’ And referred him to us to consider the Council’s apparent inconsistencies in its various responses to him.
8. I will not investigate as Mr X has already complained to the Information Commissioner (ICO). The ICO was best placed to consider Mr X’s complaint concerning the release of the document in question.
9. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. So, the Ombudsman will not investigate any side issues arising from the Council’s responses as we are not looking at the main issue.

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Final decision

10. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Information Commissioner was better placed.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman