14 November 2008

Mr F Robinson

Via email ([FOI #4097 email])

Our ref: CS/08/0102/HJP

(Please quote our reference when contacting us)

If telephoning contact Hilary Pook on 020 7217 4734

or if using email send to: [email address]

Dear Mr Robinson

Request for information

In your email of 12 November, you asked “Can the ombudsman lawfully confirm it [sic] has no information on a matter after receiving covert information from a council and acted on that information to dismiss a complainant's complaint.”

Although the public do have rights to see information held by public bodies under the Freedom of Information Act, this Act (section 44) does not override any restriction on the release of information covered by an earlier law. Such a restriction applies to the Ombudsman's complaint files. Under the Local Government Act 1974 (section 32(2)), the Ombudsman is not permitted to disclose any information obtained in the course of, or for the purposes of, the investigation of a complaint, unless he or she considers it is necessary for the purposes of the investigation (or for other very limited reasons mostly related to legal proceedings).

Section 44 is an `absolute exemption' under the Freedom of Information Act, so the duty to confirm or deny that the information is held does not apply if compliance with that duty would involve disclosure of information. So it may be that, if the Ombudsman has received information from a council in confidence in the course of investigating a complaint, he or she would not have to confirm or deny that the information was held - it would depend on the particular request.

That concludes my response and I hope you find the information useful. If you feel I have not dealt properly with your request, you have the right to appeal and, should you wish to do so, I can supply a copy our internal complaints procedure. You also have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner to determine whether your request has been properly dealt with. You should note however that the Commissioner will not consider any complaint where you have not first exhausted our internal complaints process or where there has been undue delay in contacting him. You will be able to obtain further details of the Information Commissioner's role from the website on www.ico.gov.uk.

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Yours sincerely

Hilary Pook (Ms)

Communications and Records Manager

LGO 01 (03/08)