Ombudsman calls for more constructive government response to her reports
13 Jul 2006
Press release 03/06
Ann Abraham, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, today criticises a number of government departments for taking a negative and defensive approach to her investigations. In her 2005-06 annual report, Making a Difference 
, Ms Abraham praises some other departments for engaging constructively with her, and says that her investigations into maladministration can be used by government as a “powerful lever for reform”.
Ms Abraham today reported on the 3,606 investigations carried out by her office in the year ending 30 March 2006. The investigations ranged across 107 government departments and agencies, and 475 different NHS organisations.
During the same period results from a customer satisfaction survey scored the Office highly on customer care, with 82 per cent finding it friendly in their first contact, and 79 per cent finding it helpful. Seventy eight per cent found it accessible, the same percentage felt it was responsive, and 70 per cent considered it fair.
The Ombudsman fully or partly upheld 67 per cent of all the complaints she investigated and more than 99 per cent of her recommendations were complied with.
Engagement with government departments
Ann Abraham said, ‘Government departments usually show a welcome willingness to respond constructively to my investigations and reports, and to accept my findings. To learn the lessons from what has gone wrong and why is a powerful lever for reform.’
Ms Abraham commented on the positive way in which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had worked constructively with her office on the issue of tax credits. HMRC responded to her report to Parliament in June 2005 with some substantial changes to the administration of the system and agreed new ways of handling complaints.
However, the Ombudsman twice reported to Parliament during the year about injustice caused by maladministration that the Government does not intend to remedy. The first report, A Debt of Honour (July 2005), related to the ex gratia compensation scheme for British groups interned in the Far East during the Second World War, administered by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). MOD initially rejected two of the Ombudsman’s findings but, immediately before the Public Administration Select Committee took evidence on the scheme from the Minister, accepted that inconsistencies in the management of the scheme had occurred and later announced a widening of the eligibility criteria. The Ombudsman said she was concerned that it took the Committee’s intervention to achieve progress. It was inappropriate for public bodies to seek to override the judgment of the independent arbiter established by Parliament to act on its behalf.
The second report, Trusting in the Pensions Promise (March 2006), related to the official information produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about the security of occupational pension schemes. The Ombudsman found that the information was inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent and that having relied on this information, some people in schemes that had wound up with insufficient assets to meet their obligations were experiencing hardship and distress. In a move without precedent the DWP has not accepted the Ombudsman’s findings or recommendations, and its response continues to be negative.
Continuing care
The Ombudsman said she was pleased that the Department of Health had recently published their consultation document on a national framework for NHS funded continuing care in England. A national framework was one of the recommendations in two of Ms Abraham’s reports on the subject in 2003 and 2004. In 2005-06 her staff completed 1,327 continuing care investigations, a large proportion of the total 1,891 NHS complaints reported on during the year.
Complaints handling in the NHS
The Ombudsman worked with the Department of Health and the Healthcare Commission during the year to develop an NHS Complaint Standard, an important step towards improved complaint handling and service improvements locally. Ms Abraham welcomed the Department’s intention to integrate the handling of health and social care complaints, one of the recommendations in her March 2005 report on the NHS complaints procedure, Making things better, announced in the White Paper, Our health, our care, our say, in January 2006 .
Ends
Notes to Editors
- Publication details: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Annual Report 2005-2006, HC , 13 July 2006
- Press copies: the reports are available from the Press Office, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP, telephone: 0300 061 4996/3943, e-mail press@ombudsman.gsi.gov.uk
- The year saw a substantial increase in the number of investigations reported on – 3,606 compared with 2,886 in 2004-05. There were 3,162 new cases accepted for investigation: 1,853 about government departments and agencies, and 1,309 about the NHS.
- The Ombudsman’s memorandum of 28 June 2006 to the Public Administration Select Committee - on her report, Trusting in the Pensions Promise, can be found on the website here
- The results of the customer satisfaction survey are drawn from a collation of monthly MORI surveys between October 2005 and March this year, and are based on 579 complainant respondents. More results can be found on our website here
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about government departments, agencies and some other public bodies, and the NHS in England. She is independent of the Government, the civil service and the NHS. Her services are free and confidential.
For more information or copies of the report, please contact the press office on 0300 061 4996/4996 or e-mail press.office@ombudsman.org.uk
