Public Services Ombudsman for Wales

The complainant has requested a copy of the Code of Conduct and other information used by the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales (‘the Ombudsman’) in its work and when carrying out investigations. They also requested information concerning a particular complaint. The Ombudsman provided links to where the information requested in the first part of the request could be found on its website.  The Ombudsman relied on section 40(1) of FOIA to withhold the information requested in the second part of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Ombudsman should have relied on section 21 of FOIA to withhold the information requested in the second part of the request. He has decided to proactively apply this exemption in this case. He also finds that, on the balance of probabilities, the Ombudsman does not hold any further information in relation to acceptable working hours within scope of the request. The Commissioner does not require further steps.