22. Responses to enquiries

Investigators should complete the ECHO workflow correctly upon receipt of a BinJ response to enquiries or when allowing extra time for a response. The ECHO Manual explains what you should do.

We must be satisfied the BinJ has provided an appropriate and evidenced response to our enquiries. We should assure ourselves that, where we have sought comments from an individual or third party via the BinJ, the BinJ has made reasonable attempts to contact them and secure their comments. Where the requested information is not supplied, we should consider whether it is appropriate to use the Ombudsman’s powers to obtain it. Where we believe the BinJ has provided information not related to the case we are investigating they may need to record a data breach. In those circumstances we should alert the BinJ to our concerns and delete the documents in question from our records.

When we have received information from the BinJ we should not simply send a ‘neutral letter’ inviting the complainant to comment on what has been said. We must carefully consider the material before passing it on, including identifying any material we should not disclose. Having done this, if queries about the response need to be raised with the complainant before a draft decision can be made, they should be sent a ‘guided neutral letter’ inviting their response to specific questions.

In most cases any information gathered which we intend to share in accordance with our information sharing principles will be sent at the same time as the draft decision. This is to encourage responses to focus on the draft decision, rather than providing a critique of the BinJ enquiry response, much of which may not be relevant.