The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about an officer’s failure to declare a conflict of interest. We cannot investigate personnel issues and it is unlikely an investigation would achieve a worthwhile outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has failed to properly investigate his complaint that a senior Council officer did not declare a conflict of interest. He says the Council’s investigation into the matter was flawed and he has lost trust. He wants the Council to commission an independent investigation and act on any findings.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended) 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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
Mr X says the Council’s investigation into the matter was flawed. He says its response to him was defensive and contained inaccuracies. He says it focused on whether there was evidence the officer unduly influenced a planning decision in 2021, rather than whether any action was needed against the officer for failing to declare the conflict of interest.
We will not investigate this complaint. I accept Mr X’s view that the Council’s response to him does not fully address his concerns. However, the events Mr X refers to happened four years ago. Due to the passage of time, it is unlikely an investigation by us would achieve a worthwhile outcome. We could not require the Council to commission an independent investigation.
In addition, the law does not allow us to investigate personnel matters. Any investigation by us could not recommend disciplinary action against the officer.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would achieve a worthwhile outcome and we cannot investigate personnel issues.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman