The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not sending Mrs A the recording of a meeting because the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider data disclosure matters.
The complaint
Mrs A complains the Council will not provide her with a recording of a meeting that took place.
Mrs A also complains about how the Council handled her complaint.
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 another body better placed to consider this complaint.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs A says the Council agreed to provide her with a recording of a meeting it had with her as well as a written record. Mrs A has never received the recording.
The Council say the recording is no longer available. It also says this is outside its standard practice. It says normally only written records of meetings are provided.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) 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.
The ICO have powers to order data disclosure and to impose penalties upon Councils that we do not. It is better placed than the Ombudsman to consider this complaint.
It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive matter.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs A’s complaint because there is another body better placed than the Ombudsman to consider it. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaint handling when we are not considering the substantive matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman