Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council communicated with Mr X. This is because any injustice caused to him is not significant enough to warrant investigation. Also, he Information Commissioner is better placed to consider Mr X’s complaint about a Freedom of Information request.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the council communicated with him during a telephone call. He says a member of staff was rude and obstructive, and terminated the telephone call. Mr X also complains about how the Council dealt with a Freedom of Information (FoI) request he made and about how his complaint had been dealt with.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council communicated with him during a phone call. This is because I do not consider that the issues raised have caused Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant our investigation. 
7. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). It is reasonable to expect Mr X to refer his FOI complaint to the Information Commissioner.
8. 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

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice caused to him is not significant enough to warrant investigation. The Information Commissioner is better placed to consider Mr X’s complaint about a Freedom of Information request.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman