The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has withheld information about a bid for funding. This is because the Information Commissioners Office is better placed to consider the matter.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council has not been transparent about divulging information to him about a bid for levelling up finding.
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)) 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 the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. He submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Council and is dissatisfied with the Council’s response. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) are best placed to deal with this complaint because it is about how the Council has deal with a Freedom of Information request.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the ICO are best placed to deal with it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman