Bristol City Council (22 015 844)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a request for information as it is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains about the Council’s response to her freedom of information request. Mrs X feels the Council has not been transparent about what information it holds. Mrs X also complains about the Council’s handling of her complaint about this.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider the complaint or the injustice caused to the complainant is not sufficient to warrant our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
- It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights. It is best placed to assess the Council’s response to Mrs X’s request for information.
- We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mrs X’s complaint about this as a separate matter as any injustice to Mrs X arising from this is not sufficient to warrant our involvement. Also, it would not be a good use of our limited resources when we are not investigating the substantive matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is best dealt with by the ICO.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman