The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council holding and sharing incorrect information about Mr X. It concerns matters that the Council says have been considered in court. Mr X disputes this. In any event, the complaint would be better considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office than the Ombudsman.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council communicated false information about him to his ex-partner, breaching the Data Protection Act. He says this led to a series of events including him suffering injury and his family and friends being at risk of harassment and abuse. The Council’s complaint response is unprofessional and unacceptable. He wants it to correct the information it holds about him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended) 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 another body better placed to consider the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains that information the Council shared about him with his ex-partner, which was untrue, led to an incident between him and his ex-partner. This has led to a series of events with a significant impact on Mr X.
The Council said it would not investigate his complaint because it was about matters that have been considered in court. Mr X says this is not true.
Like the Council, we cannot consider matters that have been considered as part of court proceedings. However, I acknowledge Mr X’s view this was not the case. In any event, however, his complaint would be better considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) than the Ombudsman.
It is open to Mr X to contact the ICO as the organisation that considers complaints about organisations’ information practices. The Ombudsman cannot instruct the Council to delete records, and there is not a good reason we should consider the complaint in this case, instead of the ICO.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matters the Council says were considered in court. In any event, the Information Commissioner’s Office would be best placed to consider the issue as it relates to an alleged breach of the Data Protection Act.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman