Freedom of Information request - Complaints made about councillors’ conduct
Case reference FOI2026/00831
Received 28 July 2026
Published 25 August 2026
Request
Response
In accordance with section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), Oxford City Council (OCC) confirms that it holds information falling within the scope of your request.
The information held by OCC records 24 complaints within the case list provided for the period covered by your request.
(1) Please state how many complaints the council received about councillors’ conduct for the years (i) 2024 (ii) 2025 and (iii) 2026
|
Year |
Number of complaints |
|
2024 |
12 |
|
2025 |
5 |
|
2026 |
7 |
|
Total |
24 |
(2) For each year stated above, please state how many complaints were about (i) a Labour councillor’s conduct (ii) a Reform UK councillor’s conduct (iii) a Conservative councillor’s conduct (iv) a Liberal Democrat councillor’s conduct (v) a Green Party councillor’s conduct (vi) an Independent councillor’s conduct.
|
Political party |
2025 |
2025 |
2026 |
|
Labour |
4 |
1 |
4 |
|
Reform UK |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Conservative |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Liberal Democrat |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Green |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
Independent |
4 |
3 |
0 |
|
Other |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
Total |
12 |
5 |
7 |
(3) For each complaint, please state the outcome. I imagine that the council would use phrases such as ‘no further action’ or ‘complaint upheld’ to describe the outcome
The information held records a range of outcomes. These include complaints being dismissed or closed at an initial stage, matters being referred to or considered by an Independent Person or local panel, informal resolution, matters being outside the remit of the Code of Conduct, and cases remaining ongoing.
OCC has provided the outcome information in aggregated form rather than providing the individual case list, as the individual case information contains personal data relating to identifiable individuals.
OCC considers that the individual case information constitutes third-party personal data for the purposes of section 40(2) of the FOIA and section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
Section 40(2) provides an exemption where disclosure of third-party personal data would breach any of the data protection principles. In considering disclosure, OCC has taken account of the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), including the principle of fairness in Article 5(1)(a).
The information relates to individual complaints concerning councillors. The case information includes complaints which were dismissed, closed without a formal complaint, resolved informally and, in some cases, matters which had not concluded at the time the information was recorded. Disclosure of the individual case details would therefore provide information about identifiable individuals beyond the aggregated statistical information provided above.
OCC has considered the public interest in transparency concerning the operation of its standards and complaints process and the accountability of elected members. However, it considers that this can be addressed by providing the numerical and aggregated information above without disclosing the individual case information.
Accordingly, section 40(2) of the FOIA is relied upon in respect of the personal data contained within the individual case information.
In accordance with section 16 of the FOIA, which relates to the duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance, OCC has provided the statistical information held in an aggregated form, rather than disclosing individual case information.
If you disagree with any part of the response to your7 request, you are entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s) made. You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either email monitoringofficer@oxford.gov.uk – or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX. After the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Officer
| Freedom of Information Team | Law & Governance | Oxford City Council | Town Hall | St Aldate’s | Oxford | OX1 1BX |
Documents
This is Oxford City Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.