Monday, 29 July 2013

Ignored by Staffordshire County Council (Updated The LGO have now started an Investigation)

Hi Folkes

It is apparently day 1 where the latest of investigation starts into all the innacuracies (Lies) the social workers have stated.

So no contact as yet will start to see what the week brings.

But while I have your attention just want to talk about the Local Government Ombudsman below is the
final decision dated the 18th June 2013.


I have today sent a new email with the latest information regarding the inaccuracies that were being ignored by Staffordshire County Council and my concerns that yet again they will fail to be transparent.
These Issues have now been dumped onto the NHS to answer.


I have requested for the purpose of public safety that false documentation should be looked into by the Local Government Ombudsman and should not be a matter for judicial review.

I have never felt so determined to bring these issues into the full light of day.





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





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We are here to try to make change please dont send posts which are without viable proof there are some good people out there attempting to do a good job.