Hi Bloggers
I have received the final decision from the LGO.
As per usual it was no surprise and I was not expecting anything other reply
The physical conduct of Staffordshire County Council is to be buried unless the
family go for judicial review.
The LGO feel that an amendment on file should be enough as a remedy.
So the LGO with its limited budget have no bite when it comes to investigation.
What a complete waste of public monies.
Hopefully the Information commissioner will see this for what it is a complete cover up based on a poor procedure.
Note the amount of complaints they are receiving and ask yourself they all can not be frivolous.
We will now discuss this recent info as a family and then update you all
But here for your public interest is the document.
18 June 2013
Mr Stephen Bourne
NEWCASTLE
Our ref:
13 002 849
(Please quote our reference when contacting us and, if using email,
please put the reference number in the email subject header)
If telephoning please contact: 020 7217 4660
email address: M.Abrams@coinweb.lgo.org.uk
Dear Mr Bourne
Complaint against Staffordshire County Council
Thank you for your email of 7 June. As you know I have been asked to review Ms Mason’s decision not to pass your complaint on for investigation.
My role
The Ombudsman has limited resources. Each year she receives more complaints than she can investigate. She has therefore established a set of principles against which we assess complaints to see whether they should be investigated.
This Assessment Code can be found in full on our
website, but in summary we consider:
whether a complaint is within jurisdiction;
whether there is an alternative remedy available;
whether there is a significant claimed injustice;
whether there is any sign of fault by the Council ; and
whether there is something the Ombudsman can achieve for the complainant through investigation.
My task when reviewing your complaint is to see whether Ms Mason has properly assessed your complaint against these principles.
Your complaint
You complained that Council staff made defamatory remarks, recorded inaccurate information about you and referred to you as being a thief.
My views
I have reviewed all the documentation Ms Mason used to assess this complaint.
Although you are unhappy about the information and comments made by Council staff, which you regard as false and defamatory, the Council has agreed that a record of your concerns and views
will be put onto your file.
I regard this as an acceptable way for the Council to recognise your
concerns. If you wish to challenge the Council further, pursuing your allegation of defamation of character, you will need to do so through the courts.
In your review request, you have also asked the LGO to investigate the Council’s handling of your complaint to it.
We do not normally investigate complaints about the complaints procedures, if we are not pursuing the substantive complaint, as it is not possible to disentangle the elements. There is also nothing that I could achieve by doing so.
Conclusion
Ms Mason has concluded that the Ombudsman should not investigate the complaint because the events happened more than 12 months ago, and any allegation of defamation of character is for the courts to decide. Your opposing view is understandable, but having considered the circumstances, I agree with Ms Mason’s decision. I am sorry I could not be of more help on this
occasion.
This concludes my review of the decision: we cannot enter into further correspondence about this, as our decisions are final.
Information on Judicial review
You can challenge the decision in the High Court by judicial review if you think it has been taken unlawfully. This is not an appeal and the most a court can do, if successful, is to quash the Ombudsman’s decision. The narrow grounds of challenge include illegality, irrationality or procedural flaws.
You should seek legal advice if you want to consider a judicial review. There are strict time limits and procedures to follow, including the Pre-Action Protocol
(http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_jrv).
We would defend our decision and claim payment of our legal costs if proceedings are issued and are unsuccessful.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs M Abrams
Well that me told then...
Our wonderful government need to wake up and start looking at how the Procedures are being used to save on investigation and allow cover up.
The Taxpayers money would be better spent on childcare for working parents or providing access to legal recourse for the average joe blogs on the street.
I am learning as I get older and wiser that this world we live in is corrupt and underhand it is very very sad.
If I won the lottery I would give a million to bring this sort of cover up to the surface.
Steve
I have received the final decision from the LGO.
As per usual it was no surprise and I was not expecting anything other reply
The physical conduct of Staffordshire County Council is to be buried unless the
family go for judicial review.
The LGO feel that an amendment on file should be enough as a remedy.
So the LGO with its limited budget have no bite when it comes to investigation.
What a complete waste of public monies.
Hopefully the Information commissioner will see this for what it is a complete cover up based on a poor procedure.
Note the amount of complaints they are receiving and ask yourself they all can not be frivolous.
We will now discuss this recent info as a family and then update you all
But here for your public interest is the document.
18 June 2013
Mr Stephen Bourne
NEWCASTLE
Our ref:
13 002 849
(Please quote our reference when contacting us and, if using email,
please put the reference number in the email subject header)
If telephoning please contact: 020 7217 4660
email address: M.Abrams@coinweb.lgo.org.uk
Dear Mr Bourne
Complaint against Staffordshire County Council
Thank you for your email of 7 June. As you know I have been asked to review Ms Mason’s decision not to pass your complaint on for investigation.
My role
The Ombudsman has limited resources. Each year she receives more complaints than she can investigate. She has therefore established a set of principles against which we assess complaints to see whether they should be investigated.
This Assessment Code can be found in full on our
website, but in summary we consider:
whether a complaint is within jurisdiction;
whether there is an alternative remedy available;
whether there is a significant claimed injustice;
whether there is any sign of fault by the Council ; and
whether there is something the Ombudsman can achieve for the complainant through investigation.
My task when reviewing your complaint is to see whether Ms Mason has properly assessed your complaint against these principles.
Your complaint
You complained that Council staff made defamatory remarks, recorded inaccurate information about you and referred to you as being a thief.
My views
I have reviewed all the documentation Ms Mason used to assess this complaint.
Although you are unhappy about the information and comments made by Council staff, which you regard as false and defamatory, the Council has agreed that a record of your concerns and views
will be put onto your file.
I regard this as an acceptable way for the Council to recognise your
concerns. If you wish to challenge the Council further, pursuing your allegation of defamation of character, you will need to do so through the courts.
In your review request, you have also asked the LGO to investigate the Council’s handling of your complaint to it.
We do not normally investigate complaints about the complaints procedures, if we are not pursuing the substantive complaint, as it is not possible to disentangle the elements. There is also nothing that I could achieve by doing so.
Conclusion
Ms Mason has concluded that the Ombudsman should not investigate the complaint because the events happened more than 12 months ago, and any allegation of defamation of character is for the courts to decide. Your opposing view is understandable, but having considered the circumstances, I agree with Ms Mason’s decision. I am sorry I could not be of more help on this
occasion.
This concludes my review of the decision: we cannot enter into further correspondence about this, as our decisions are final.
Information on Judicial review
You can challenge the decision in the High Court by judicial review if you think it has been taken unlawfully. This is not an appeal and the most a court can do, if successful, is to quash the Ombudsman’s decision. The narrow grounds of challenge include illegality, irrationality or procedural flaws.
You should seek legal advice if you want to consider a judicial review. There are strict time limits and procedures to follow, including the Pre-Action Protocol
(http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_jrv).
We would defend our decision and claim payment of our legal costs if proceedings are issued and are unsuccessful.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs M Abrams
Well that me told then...
Our wonderful government need to wake up and start looking at how the Procedures are being used to save on investigation and allow cover up.
The Taxpayers money would be better spent on childcare for working parents or providing access to legal recourse for the average joe blogs on the street.
I am learning as I get older and wiser that this world we live in is corrupt and underhand it is very very sad.
If I won the lottery I would give a million to bring this sort of cover up to the surface.
Steve
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