Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a school, the conduct of Council staff, and the Council failing to provide him with information. This is because we cannot consider actions within a school, we could not add to the Council’s own investigation or achieve a different outcome, and complaints about information requests are best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s actions in relation to:
• the actions of school staff, and referral of a child for additional assessment by school staff without Mr X’s consent;
• the behaviour of a member of Council staff towards him outside a school and the behaviour of Council refuse collectors towards him;
• the Council failing to provide him with information he requested, to properly communicate with him or to investigate his concerns.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B).)

3. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools.

(Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended.)

4. 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

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We cannot by law consider Mr X’s complaints about the actions of school staff or actions within a school.
7. The Council says it has investigated Mr X’s complaints about Council staff and refuse collectors’ behaviour towards him, and it found insufficient evidence of any fault. As the events described are not a matter of tangible records it is unlikely that further investigation by us would add anything more.
8. Mr X says he requested information from the Council, and the Council did not properly respond to his request. This is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is best placed to deal with complaints about information requests.
9. Mr X says the Council did not properly investigate his complaints and failed to communicate with him. We do not investigate the operation of complaints procedures where we are not considering the subject of the complaints as it is not a good use of our resources to do so.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because we cannot consider actions within a school, we could not add to the Council’s own investigation or achieve a different outcome, and complaints about information requests are best dealt with by the ICO.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman