Chapter 13 Web links

Ombudsmen

Parliamentary and Heath Service Ombudsman Website

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee  

  • Oversees the Parliamentary Ombudsman, and the responses of government agencies to Ombudsman reports

Local Government Ombudsmen

European Ombudsman

Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman      

Commissions

Equality and Human Rights Commission

  • The Commissions established to target discrimination (the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and  the Equal Opportunities Commission) were merged to form the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Generic Ombudsmen

Office of the Independent Adjudicator

  • A compulsory ombudsman scheme for complaints against higher education institutions.

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman

Adjudicator’s Office

  • Investigates complaints about HM Revenue and Customs

Independent case examiner               

  • Investigates complaints about certain government agencies including the Child Support Agency

Independent Review Service

  • Carries out independent reviews for dissatisfied customers of the discretionary social fund (a scheme created in 1988 to enable Jobcentres to give crisis grants and loans to the very poor).

Information Commissioner

 

Private sector Ombudsmen

  • A list of ombudsmen other than the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is provided on her website: http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/if-we-cant-help
  • Examples of private sector ombudsmen include

Reports

Parliamentary Ombudsman Reports

Tax credits: getting it wrong? 5th report session 2006 to 2007

Tax credits: putting things right 3rd report session 2005 to 2006

 

  • The difficulties caused by the introduction of Child and Working Tax Credits to poor families with children and low-income earners was the subject of a report by the Parliamentary Ombudsmen under Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 s 10(4) (reports of general interest laid before Parliament)
  • The report provides an example of the kind of investigatory work carried out by ombudsmen that could never be pursued by a court or tribunal. 

The outcome of the investigation also demonstrates the potential advantages of an ombudsman over the courts: the Parliamentary Ombudsman identified the key origins of the problem, considered certain fundamental issues raised by the investigation, and made wide-ranging recommendations for redress. 

 

‘"A debt of honour": the ex gratia scheme for British groups interned by the Japanese during the Second World War’ (4th Report, Session 2005-2006, HC 324)

  • This report concerned the late introduction of a ‘bloodlink’ criterion in the eligibility for an ex gratia scheme to repay a ‘debt of honour’ to British civilians who endured captivity in the Far East during World War II.  The Ombudsman found injustice in consequence of maladministration, and laid a report before Parliament under Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 s 10(3) on the ground that the Government had not remedied and did not propose to remedy the injustice.
  • The investigation highlights
    • the difference between unlawfulness and maladministration
    • the effect of the exclusion of cases from the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction where the complainant has an alternative remedy (Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 s 5(2)(b))

 

‘Trusting in the pensions promise: government bodies and the security of final salary occupational pensions’

(6th Report, Session 2005-2006, HC 984)

  • A host of occupational pension schemes were wound up without sufficient funds to meet the ‘pensions promise’ to all their members.  This report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman investigates the role of the Government in the fiasco and allegations of government maladministration.
  • The report was laid before Parliament under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 s 10(3) (where it appears to the Ombudsman that injustice, which has been caused in consequence of maladministration, has not or will not be remedied).
  • Annex D outlines the Department of Work and Pensions formal response to the Ombudsman’s report; the Ombudsman responds to this and to a further letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Work and Pensions in Chapter 7 of the report. 
  • In an unprecedented move, the Government rejected both the finding of maladministration and the remedy suggested.  The Ombudsman replied that nothing in the Government response persuaded her that her findings were unsound or unreasonable.

Public Administration Select Committee: ‘The Ombudsman in Question: the Ombudsman’s report on pensions and its constitutional implications’ (HC 1081):

  • Following the various reports and responses, the Public Administration Select Committee considered the Pensions Affair.
  • The Select Committee agreed with the Parliamentary Ombudsman that maladministration occurred, and called on the Government to look again at what should be done by way of remedy.
  • The Committee criticised the recent trend in Government responses to Ombudsman reports, and pointed out that a practice of rejecting findings of maladministration will raise fundamental constitutional issues about the position of the Ombudsman and the relationship between Parliament and the executive.
  • The Select Committee agreed with the Government insofar as it considered that where there are disputes between Government and the Ombudsman, Parliament is the forum where they should be debated, as opposed to the courts in judicial review. 
  • The Select Committee hoped its report would act as a warning to Government.  The Government must respect the Parliamentary Ombudsman. 

The Bradley case is referred to at p.32 of the Public Administration Select Committee’s report. 

In May 2009, the Ombudsman published a further report, ‘Injustice unremedied: the Government’s response on Equitable Life’, concluding that the government had not remedied and was not going to remedy the injustice that she had found.

Parliamentary Ombudsman’s Annual Reports

  • The Annual Reports contain statistics on the workload of the Ombudsman, the type and origin of complaints received, the speed at which complaints are dealt with etc. 

Local Ombudsman’s Annual Reports  

  • The appendices give useful statistics on the type of complaints received, their outcomes, the types of investigations undertaken etc. 

Examples of inquiries

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