Power to investigate South West Middlesex Crematorium?

Dear The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman,
There is a number of Freedom of Information requests on this website, which relate to my concerns about this crematorium.

I have two questions for which definitive answers would be welcomed:-
(1) does your organisation have the power to investigate maladministration within the South West Middlesex Crematorium and complaints about and if not is it for the same reason that the ICO cannot investigate?;
(2) how is it possible to use the required form on your website, to lodge a complaint about the crematorium and be able to state, that it is not the responsibility of any London borough?

Regarding point (2), the form would not transmit without naming a local authority and that has resulted in confusion, lengthy delays and final rejection of my complaint. I have been advised that I could start again but for that, there needs to be definitive answers to both questions.

On the 4th December 2020, a bereavement adviser rang your HQ for the answer to my first question and the situation was carefully checked. It was discovered that you do have that power, which is what the crematorium's website stated then and still states.

However, after a lengthy wait for the outcome of an investigation, one of your assessment managers has now stated, that you may or may not have that power. As that person has stated, "we will not respond to further communications", and substantive information provided by the bereavement adviser was intentionally not acknowledged, I hope this FoI request will be successful.

The answerphone of your HQ states, that you investigate councils (local authorities) and "some other organisations providing local public services".

The crematorium is a local public service but is financially independent and does not receive funding from local or central government or other sources. For that reason, as the above bereavement adviser had mentioned, the Information Commissioner's Office has no powers under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Yours faithfully,
Kat Daniels

FOI Officer, The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

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FOI Officer, The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

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Our ref: 22/100

           

Please quote reference 22/100 when contacting us about this request for
information.

 

If telephoning, please contact: 0330 403 4734

Email address: [1][LGSCO request email]

 

 

Dear Kat Daniels

 

INFORMATION ACCESS REQUEST – REFERENCE 22/100

 

Thank you for your request for information received on 15 August 2022.

 

Your request has been recorded as:

 

I have two questions for which definitive answers would be welcomed:-

 

(1)does your organisation have the power to investigate maladministration
within the South West Middlesex Crematorium and complaints about and if
not is it for the same reason that the ICO cannot investigate?;

 

(2) how is it possible to use the required form on your website, to lodge
a complaint about the crematorium and be able to state, that it is not the
responsibility of any London borough?

 

We aim to respond to all requests within 20 working days. You can
therefore expect our response to be issued on or before 13 August 2022.

 

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Yours sincerely

 

Mandy Cashmore

Information and Records Officer

Tel: 0330 403 4734

 

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FOI Officer, The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

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Dear Kat Daniels

 

INFORMATION ACCESS REQUEST – REFERENCE 22/100

 

Please find attached my response to your request for information which we
received on 15 August 2022.

 

Yours sincerely

 

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Lydia Barrow I Access to Information Assistant

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Direct: 0330 403 4629

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Dear FOI Officer,
Please forward this response to the Ombudsman for their consideration.
The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, has always had responsibility for social care issues within local government. However, the fact that those issues are now prominent in their title, emphasises the importance of having a psychosocial approach which is sensitive, compassionate, dynamic and sound in all other respects.
In view of the intractable administrative tangles which I have encountered, in connection with scandalous responses to my brother's death, I request that the Ombudsman now adopt and approach to acutely vulnerable people in crisis situations, which does not impose rigid administrative barriers, to obtaining urgent help.
I and those helping me have become exhausted. Responses before and since my Freedom of Information request, left no option but to go back to square one. In other words, administrative procedures are being used inflexibly.
That appears to breach a long established principle of administrative law.
The courts have long determined, that policies and procedures must not be applied inflexibly.
It is important that staff act with wisdom and when appropriate, have the confidence to ignore inappropriate procedures, i.e. they are merely guidance and not law.
What follows are quotes from Oxbridge Professor William Wade, author of 'Administrative Law', published by Oxford University Press. The quotes are relevant to the conduct of all public services, including the modus operandi of the LGSCO..
“An authority can fail to give its mind to a case and thus fail to exercise its discretion lawfully, by blindly following a policy laid down in advance".
"It is a fundamental rule for the exercise of discretionary power that discretion must be brought to bear on every case - each one must be considered on its own merits and decided as the public interest requires at the time”.
An administrative authority “is not allowed to ‘pursue consistency at the expense of the merits of individual cases’.
In a case where a LA said it “could make no exception even in the most deserving case", the court regarded that ‘not as the adoption of a policy in the exercise of a discretion but as a refusal to exercise any discretion’."
My dire circumstances require that they be considered exceptional and discretion be exercised by the LGSCO..
For the avoidance of doubt, I fully complied with the crematorium's complaints procedure and the clerk responded on the 02 February 2021. I also appealed to the board of councillors which did not respond.
I still have not received all relevant documentation from the crematorium, despite the details which it was given on relevant law and my legal status, as confirmed by the High Court of Justice.
Yours sincerely,
Kat Daniels

FOI Officer, The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

1 Attachment

 

Dear Kat Daniels

 

Thank you for your email dated 16 January 2023.

 

Having read your comments I do not believe your email relates to your
access to information request, reference 22/100.

 

The [1][LGSCO request email] inbox is not a way of getting correspondence
to a different part of our organisation.  It is solely for the purpose of
receiving and handling access to information requests.  In light of this I
will not be forwarding your email on to the Ombudsman or any other area of
our organisation.

 

If you have a complaint registered with us and are unhappy with how that
complaint has been handled you should first contact the investigator who
handled the complaint.  Information about complaining about our service is
available on our website.  This includes our service complaints procedure
and a service complaints form.  You can access the relevant page on our
website [2]here.

 

We also publish information about challenging our decisions.  If you have
recently received a decision and wish to challenge it please refer to the
information provided [3]here.

 

If you wish to complain about a crematorium and you have received a final
response from them which refers you to the Local Government and Social
Care Ombudsman you can either speak to our complaint advisers on our
Helpline or you can submit your complaint to us via our website using the
online complaint form.  Further information and guidance is available on
our website [4]here.

 

The telephone number for our Helpline is 0300 061 0614 and the telephone
lines are open from 1pm to 4pm Mondays and Wednesdays and from 10am to 1pm
on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

 

If you believe the crematorium is withholding information you are entitled
to see, for example your own personal data, I can only suggest you speak
to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as they may be able to help
with this. 

 

Details of how you can contact the ICO is available on their website:

 

[5]Contact us | ICO

 

I hope this is of assistance.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Mandy Cashmore

Information and Records Officer

Tel: 0330 403 4734

 

Please note my working days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

 

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References

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EM Agnew left an annotation ()

The person responding on behalf of the LGSCO suggests an approach to the ICO but at the start of this FOI under point (1), you have made clear that the ICO cannot investigate. Additionally, the responding person has either failed to understand the legal significance of (a) what you have stated about their duties under administrative law and (b) what the courts are likely to expect from them, or they may confidently believe they are in a unique position and are beyond the reach of the law. This saga is not only surprising but shocking.