The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delays in responding to the complainant’s concerns and requests for information. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about how the Council has dealt with her concerns and freedom of information requests on the installation of telecommunication poles in the road where she lives.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So, where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council has dealt with her freedom of information requests. This is because is reasonable to expect her to raise this with the Information Commissioners Office, who are better placed to consider complaints about freedom of information.
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s delays in responding to her correspondence. The Council has apologised for this, and we consider this is a suitable remedy to this part of her complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman