The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a Councillors’ misconduct after the sharing of confidential information. There is not enough of evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about a Councillors’ conduct after confidential information was shared with another staff member. Mrs X says it took the council over six months to respond to 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24 A (6), as amended, section 34(B)) This is to use in cases where we have applied our discretion not to investigate the substantive issue and the complainant wants us to look at how the body handled a complaint about it.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained to the Council about a breach of the code of conduct for councillors. Mrs X says that confidential information was shared with another staff member.
The Council’s Monitoring Officer considered the information in Mrs X’s complaint, requested information from the councillor in question and consulted with the independent person. The Monitoring Officer wrote to Mrs X to inform her that there was insufficient evidence to support her claims.
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement. The Council investigated the complaint in accordance with the procedures.
I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mrs X’s complaint about these matters. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman