Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (24 013 838)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council records decisions made under its delegation scheme. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant and investigation.
The complaint
- Ms X complains the Council’s meeting records do not name the officers delegated responsibility for future decisions about parking charges. She says this lacks transparency and public accountability for decision making.
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 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
- In its complaint response to Ms X, the Council explained that naming the delegated officers job level and role was the most appropriate way to set out the delegation in the records. It said it did not name the specific officers as officers may change roles or leave the Council and it would not be practical to update the delegation decision record each time a new officer came into post. It said there was information about the officers responsible for delegated decisions on its website.
- We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has appropriately explained why it records the job level and does not name delegated officers in its meeting records and how Ms X can find out who is responsible for delegated decisions. The job role as recorded is sufficient to identify the delegated officer and so this appears to be in line with its delegation scheme. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman