Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to respond to her freedom of information and subject access requests. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council ignored her freedom of information and subject access requests between 2003 and 2018.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. 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.
6. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Ms X complains the Council failed to respond to her freedom of information and subject access requests sent between 2003 and 2018.
10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now, many years after the requests were made.
11. Further to this it is unlikely we would have investigated this complaint even if it was made in time. This is because complaints about data requests and freedom of information are best considered and decided by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which is the body set up to consider complaints about such matters. Ms X would also have a right of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal if she was dissatisfied with the ICO’s decision on the freedom of information matters.
12. Ms X also referred to matters we previously considered in 2014 and 2016 in her complaint. I have not considered these matters as we have previously considered and decided Ms X’s complaints about them and we do not consider the same matters more than once.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman