The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about how the Council dealt with his complaint about the conduct of a councillor. He says the councillor did not answer his questions, was intimidating and bullying.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Local Authorities have a duty to designate a Monitoring Officer to ensure the lawfulness and fairness of authority decision making. The Monitoring Officer must ensure that the authority, its officers and members maintain the highest standards of conduct. Each council has different rules for dealing with complaints about code of conduct breaches.
The Ombudsman does not provide an appeal against the Monitoring Officer’s decisions. We are also unable to investigate or comment on the actions of the councillor complained about. We can consider the Council’s administration of a code of conduct complaint. However, where a decision has been made in line with the correct procedure, taking account of the relevant evidence, the Ombudsman will generally not criticise the decision, even if the complainant does not agree with it.
In this case I have seen no evidence of fault with how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint. The Monitoring Officer considered Mr X’s complaint reviewed relevant additional information and consulted with the Independent Person. It provided Mr X with the opportunity to comment on a draft version of their decision and considered his comments and consulted with the Independent Person again before reaching a final decision.
I understand Mr X may disagree with the Monitoring Officer’s findings, but they were entitled to use their judgement to decide the code of conduct had not been breached. As the Monitoring Officer dealt with Mr X’s concerns in line with the Council’s criteria for code of conduct complaints, it is unlikely I could find fault.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman