The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mr X’s complaint that a Councillor breached the code of conduct. The Council confirmed the Councillor is no longer an elected member. And that the complainant has agreed to take part in a discussion about councillor behaviour later this year. We consider there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to respond to his complaint that a Councillor breached the code of conduct.
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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council confirms the Councillor is no longer an elected member of the Council.
It says the Monitoring Officer will be discussing Councillor behaviour at a meeting with a representative group of Council Officers later this year. Mr X has agreed to take part in these discussions.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome from an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman