The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint that a councillor failed to declare their interests. This is because the impact of this affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is not within our remit.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has mis-directed him in respect of his complaint that a councillor failed to declare their directorship in two private companies. Mr X states the register of interests is a key principle of local democracy and that residents should be able to expect it to be accurate. Mr X complains about the time he has had to spend on pursuing his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), 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 the alleged Council fault did not cause significant injustice to the person complaining. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The injustice arising from the alleged Council fault impacts all or most of the people in the Council area and does not impact on Mr X to any greater degree. As per paragraph two, the complaint is not therefore within our remit.
I recognise that Mr X has spent time pursuing this issue, but it was his personal choice to do this, rather than it being unavoidable in a pursuit of redress for some personal injustice caused to Mr X.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
Mr X’s complaint impacts on all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is not within our remit. We cannot therefore investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman