The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the actions of a Parish Council. We do not have the jurisdiction to do so. We will not investigate the actions of the Council’s Monitoring Officer. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complained about: various matters relating to a Parish Council. These allegations included a flawed co-option process, improper use of Parish Council funds, a failure to respond to information requests, inappropriate contact from the Clerk whilst Ms X was on sick leave and a lack of integrity and transparency; and the decision of the District Council’s Monitoring Officer not to investigate her concerns about two parish councillors.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as parish councils. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended) We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We do not have the power to investigate complaints about the actions of parish councils as a body, or parish councillors as individuals. Therefore, we cannot investigate any of the complaints raised by Ms X which relate to these matters.
We can investigate how Council monitoring officers consider complaints made to them about parish councillors, including their decision on whether to investigate.
Ms X complained about two parish councillors. In the first instance, the Monitoring Officer took the appropriate steps before deciding the actions complained about did not meet the Code of Conduct for councillors. The Monitoring Officer explained their reasons for their decision.
The second complaint against a councillor centred on an alleged failure to respond properly to a freedom of information request. The Monitoring Officer correctly stated this was not a matter which fell under the Code of Conduct.
In both cases, because there was no evidence of fault in how the Monitoring Officer made their decision we will not investigate these complaints.
Final decision
We cannot investigate some of Ms X’s complaint because we do not have the power to investigate the actions of parish councils. And we will not investigate the others because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman