What the Ombudsman may decide not to investigate

The Ombudsman can decide whether he will investigate any complaint. Some of the complaints he receives are not serious enough to need investigating.

A number of the complaints which come to the Ombudsman are about rude or controversial things that members have said. The code of conduct is not meant to prevent political debate, so only in exceptional cases will the Ombudsman consider it appropriate to investigate whether a member’s political views, or criticism of political opponents, was so extreme that it broke the code.