their recommendations. What if a council doesn??t comply with an Ombudsman??s recommendations? If a council does not agree to a settlement we have proposed, the Ombudsman may issue a formal report about the complaint, naming the council involved. The report must be made available to the public and advertised in the local press covering the council's area. If the council does not agree to carry out the recommendations in the report, the Ombudsman can issue a further report. After this, if the council still does not take satisfactory action it must publish a statement in a local newspaper explaining why it has refused to follow the Ombudsman's recommendations. But it is very rare for a council to refuse to carry out the Ombudsman's recommendations. Passing information on to the council If I send you information about my complaint will you pass it on to the council or can you treat it as confidential? The Ombudsmen believe that they should operate in an open manner. So, generally, they will not invite or encourage a council or a complainant to send us anything in confidence. But the law says that the Ombudsman must send the council a copy of any decision made on a complaint, including a decision not to investigate. Where we do investigate a complaint, the law also says that we must give the council a chance to comment on any allegations contained in the complaint. This means that normally we will send the council copies of your complaint, along