Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (22 016 038)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office is the body best placed to consider the matter.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council has failed to adequately answer his FOI requests and that he has wasted a lot of time trying to obtain the information he wants.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X contacted the Council for information and to comment on matters relating to a decision to lower the speed limit in an area where he had received a speeding fine.
- The Council responded in some detail to the issues he raised but Mr X remains dissatisfied with its response to his FOI requests.
- We will not investigate this complaint because the Information Commissioner’s Office is the body best placed to deal with complaints concerning FOI requests.
- Moreover, we do not investigate every complaint we receive and, in this case, there is sufficient injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Information Commissioner’s Office is the body best placed to consider the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman