Public Administration Select Committee: Have your say on the complaints process

oneye14

PASC TO TAKE EVIDENCE FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY AND HEALTH SERVICE OMBUDSMAN
Monday 16 December 2013, 4.30pm
Committee Room to be confirmed
Witnesses

• Dame Julie Mellor DBE, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
• Helen Hughes, Chief Operating Officer, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

At this session, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) will hold its annual scrutiny session with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), Dame Julie Mellor. The Committee will hear from Dame Julie about her work in 2012/13, and her strategy for the operation of the service from 2013-18.

from PASC website

Let us see if both witnesses are asked whether it is acceptable to operate in secrecy (as I have previously referenced) and how the General Public can have faith & confidence in the House of Commons and it's services.

UKParliament

oneye14 wrote: »

from PASC website

thank you oneye14!

You got in there first before we could post up the info about the next evidence session!

We will provide further information shortly.

Best wishes
DOT

UKParliament

Evidence Session - Monday 16 December 2013
Meeting is due to start at 4.30pm

At this session, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) will hold its annual scrutiny session with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), Dame Julie Mellor. The Committee will hear from Dame Julie about her work in 2012/13, and her strategy for the operation of the service from 2013-18.


Witnesses expected to attend include:

• Dame Julie Mellor DBE, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
• Helen Hughes, Chief Operating Officer, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Particular issues to be explored may include:

• the challenges faced by PHSO in achieving the aims of the 2013-18 strategy;
• how investigations are undertaken by PHSO and the impact of PHSO’s strategy to investigate more complaints;
• how the landscape of ombudsmanry can be improved, for example through a single contact points for all complaints, or a single public services ombudsman.

How to watch:

The Session can be viewed on Parliament TV (Silverlight or Windows Media Player required to stream TV): We will update with further information about how to watch once it is available.

Members of the public can also attend evidence sessions. To find out further information on attending sessions please visit http://website.cms.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/ukvisitors/committees/?id=58930

The Committee will also be live tweeting the evidence session from @CommonsPASC for those interested in live updates from the session.

UKParliament

We can now link to the transcript of the Committee's evidence session that took place with the Ombudsmen this week -

Witnesses included:

• Jim Martin, Scottish Public Service Ombudsman,
• Peter Tyndall, former Public Services Ombudsman for Wales,
• Dr Tom Frwley, Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
• Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman,
• Adam Sampson, Legal Ombudsman, and
• Tony Boorman, Deputy Chief Ombudsman, Financial Ombudsman Service

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/WrittenEvidence.svc/EvidenceHtml/4414

The comments raised echo some of the points raised by MSE'ers on this thread - with discussions around the MP filter, public perception of the ombudsman service and communications with individuals with complaints.

We think this might be of interest to some people?
Many thanks
DOT

oneye14

Evidence Session - Monday 16 December 2013

Is there or will there be a transcipt of this session ?
And if so made available prior to the Christmas break

oneye14

oneye14 wrote: »

Is there or will there be a transcipt of this session ?
And if so made available prior to the Christmas break

Take that to be a No then ....:cool:

UKParliament

oneye14 wrote: »

Is there or will there be a transcipt of this session ?
And if so made available prior to the Christmas break

Hi Oneye14

Apologies for the delay in responding - as you have noticed we were unable to post up the transcript prior to the Christmas break however we can link to the transcript of the Committee's evidence session with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman now below:

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/WrittenEvidence.svc/EvidenceHtml/4704

We apologise for the delay and hope this is of interest to yourself and others? Any comments - do post them below

Thanks
DOT

oneye14

Hi DOT,
Yes there is comment

We have no confidence in the Parliamentary Ombudsman or the PASC's investigation of the Ombudsman's service !

The matter of operating in secrecy with Government Departments was alluded to in Q200 but conveniently 'muddled in' with other points.
As a consequence Dame Mellor completely ignored it and the committee failed to press the point.

This is how Parliamentary Committees work - It does make you wonder what goes on behind the scenes ....

oneye14

The PASC has also been under investigation ...
It appears the RH Ed Miliband's Petition to Parliament failed to be submitted because: -
- It would have highlighted obvious failings in the PHSO service
- It would also have highlight major failings within the PASC for the past few years.

No other MP, including individual members of the committee would submit the Petition on Mr Miliband's behalf for the same reasons. Had the petition been submitted then the
matter of operating in secrecy with Government Departments
would have been halted and the PASC subsequently investigated by Parliament.

oneye14

cheapskate101 wrote: »

.......that 98.6 .....of complaints will end up dismissed.

....And this us the pinnacle of our complaints system. For which we pay £34m a year.

Continuing from above:
We know the PHSO has been less than useless for the past 5yrs if not longer.

- Each and every member of the Committee has failed Parliament and the taxpayer. As a Committee it appears to be Constructively, if not Grossly Negligent in it's duties towards Parliament.

- It is believed that, had the PASC behaved with due diligence it would have reduced the extortionate allowance in line with performance.

Assuming the 1.4% of the total number of investigations still needed a generous 25% allowance to continue effectively, over a 5yr period the taxpayer could have saved around £127.5 million.

MSE users are invited to come up with improved calculations;
And DOT is invited to check the facts submitted recently.