London Borough of Havering (23 013 680)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to remove information regarding Mr X from its records. This is because the complaint relates to personal data and is best placed for the Information Commissioner’s officer to deal with.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council should have removed inaccurate information it held about him from its records several years ago but failed to do so and this caused him to lose out on becoming a foster carer.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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 Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council because he was unhappy it had failed to remove personal information relating to him from its records despite being instructed to do so following a hearing that took place several years ago.
- He said the Council’s failure to keep to the terms of hearing caused him to miss out on being approved as a foster carer and he wanted the Council to provide him with compensation in recognition of this.
- The Council conceded it failed to remove the information and confirmed it had done so as a result of Mr X’s complaint. The Council would not agree to provide a financial award as it determined this was not proportionate to what had happened. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman as he remained unhappy with the situation.
- The evidence shows that this complaint regards Mr X’s unhappiness with the Council’s use of his data. The Ombudsman will not usually investigate complaints relating to data protection as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was set up to adjudicate over complaints relating to personal data. It is therefore open to Mr X to refer this matter to the ICO.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint relates to personal data and is best placed for the Information Commissioner’s officer to deal with.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman