Ainsty (2008) Internal Drainage Board (24 010 004)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint because it relates to court action. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to address her concerns about data use and subject access requests.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about the Boards use of data, including identifying the correct drainage rate payer, and issued court action against the wrong defendant. She said the Board did not take her concerns seriously until she employed a professional to act on her behalf and failed to respond to her complaint. Ms X said the Boards actions had caused anxiety and financial loss.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
- The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about data protection and freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about the use of data, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X complained the Board took court action against her but she was not the correct defendant because she was not the person liable for the drainage rates. We cannot investigate this complaint because we cannot investigate complaints about the start or conduct of court action.
- Ms X also complained about the Boards use of data and about its failure to respond to a subject access request. We will not investigate this complaint because the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider those matters.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about court action. The Information Commissioner’s Officer is better placed to consider her concerns about data use and the Board’s response to her subject access request.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman