Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a report prepared for a fostering panel by the Council’s children services team. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is not enough injustice and the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council’s children services team’s report to a fostering panel.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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:
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says the Council only provided its report for a fostering panel four hours before the meeting. She says this was not long enough for her to go through the report. She says there are errors in the report. She is not happy with the way the Council replied to her complaint.
8. There is not enough significant injustice caused to Mrs X by the lack of more time to read the report. It is reasonable to have expected her to tell the meeting about her the lack of time and her views.
9. In respect of the report’s errors, Mrs X has the right to request records are ‘rectified’. This means any factual inaccuracies are corrected. If the Council refuses to do so, she can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO are better placed than us to consider if the Council should change its records particularly because there are complex exemptions for child protection case files.
10. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough injustice to her and the ICO is better placed.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman