The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to investigate a complaint that a councillor breached the coded of conduct. W e are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision-making process.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has refused to carry out a formal investigation into his complaint that a councillor breached the Council’s code of conduct.
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 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council that a councillor had breached its code of conduct.
The Council’s rules for dealing with code of conduct complaints says : “The Monitoring Officer will review the complaint within five days of receiving the Member’s response and prepare a recommendation for the Assessment Sub- Committee. In reaching this recommendation the Monitoring Officer will have regard to the Standards Committee Assessment Criteria.”
And “The Monitoring Officer may decide not to take any further action on a complaint where, on the available information, it appears to be trivial, vexatious, malicious, politically motivated or ‘tit for tat’, and it would not be in the public interest, including particularly the efficient use of resources.”
The Ombudsman does not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints, but we can consider if there was fault in the way the council considered the complaint.
The monitoring officer considered Mr X’s complaint before deciding the councillor had not breached the code of conduct. This is the correct procedure, and the Council is entitled to make this decision. The Ombudsman cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong where there is no evidence of fault in the decision-making process. Or because the complainant disagrees with it.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman