Complaint made by Governor from Overton Grange Community School Sutton against London Borough of Sutton

James Martin made this Freedom of Information request to Local Government Ombudsmen

Waiting for an internal review by Local Government Ombudsmen of their handling of this request.

From: James Martin

15 September 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Could you please provide me with full details of a complaint made
concerning London Borough of Sutton by a member of the Public
acting in their capacity as a School Governor from Overton Grange
School, Sutton, against the London Borough of Sutton.

I am particularly interested to know:

1) The nature and full details of the complaint

2) The outcome of the complaint if any

3) The advice given to the complainant by the yourselves.

Please note I am not interested in identifying any individuals and
would be happy to receive redacted or edited information to ensure
personal privacy where appropriate.

Yours faithfully,

James Martin

Link to this

From: Peter Whiteley
Local Government Ombudsmen

24 September 2009


Attachment FOI response 24.09.09.doc
42K Download View as HTML

Attachment FOI complaints London logo.doc
34K Download View as HTML


Dear Mr Martin,

Please see attached letter and enclosure

Peter Whiteley

Assistant Ombudsman

Local Government Ombudsman

020 7217 4628

[1][email address]

NOTICE - This message contains information intended only for the use of
the addressee named above. If you have received this message in error
please advise us at once and do not make any use of the information.

[2]www.lgo.org.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.lgo.org.uk/

Link to this

Anne Hide left an annotation (24 September 2009)

A typical example of how Local Government Ombudsmen bury complaints.

Link to this

From: James Martin

25 September 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Local Government
Ombudsmen's handling of my FOI request 'Complaint made by Governor
from Overton Grange Community School Sutton against London Borough
of Sutton'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

Yours faithfully,

James Martin

Link to this

Trevor R Nunn left an annotation (25 September 2009)

[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.]

That may be true but the information you are seeking was not necessarily obtained in the course of, or for the purposes of, the investigation of a complaint.

Number 1 was obviously obtained before the LGO even decided to investigate. Whilst 2 was obviously decided after the investigation was concluded. The only one they could suggest may have occurred during the investigation is number 3 but that is also a mute point because the advice may have been given after or before the investigation. In any event, advice they give can hardly be described as information the received now can it!

The LGO is well known for using this tactic to stop people finding out how badly they have handled a case. Don't give up, if they refuse to give you the information following an internal review, which they usually do, submit a complaint to the ICO. This can be done on line very quickly.

https://forms.ico.gov.uk/freedom-of-info...

Link to this

Trevor R Nunn left an annotation (25 September 2009)

For more information about the devious tactics the LGO use to block both complaints and valid requests for information,

http://ombudsmanwatchers.org.uk/

Link to this

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS left an annotation (28 September 2009)

You appear not to be making a complaint about the handling of your request.

You appear to be making a complaint about the CLAE publication scheme - and this not being followed. This is the first instance where the CLAE have identified a procedure exists for complaints about its publication scheme. This only appears to relate to Ombudsman decisions.. not data held by the CLAE.

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Local Government Ombudsmen only:
Would you like to work with the team that built this site? We’re recruiting.