Arguments for retaining the MP filter
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It is clear from the history of the MP filter that there has been a strong degree of support for it, largely from MPs themselves, but also from others.
The strongest argument for the MP filter at the time of its creation, and one still used by some today, relates to the active role of MPs in holding the Government to account on behalf of their constituents. MPs have expressed some concern that direct access to the Parliamentary Ombudsman would undermine that constitutional role of MPs. As the MP filter provides a mechanism by which MPs are able to keep in touch with constituents’ issues and concerns, it has been suggested that providing direct access to the Parliamentary Ombudsman would weaken the relationship between constituents and their MP.
As the original legislation intended that the Ombudsman would assist Parliament in holding the government to account, it has also been argued that the MP filter is central to preserving the relationship between the Ombudsman and Parliament. It has been suggested that to remove the filter would both damage the constitutional position of the Ombudsman and reduce Parliament’s ability to hold the government to account.
Alongside the constitutional principles, there has also been a pragmatic concern that the Parliamentary Ombudsman would become swamped with complaints that lacked substance if MPs did not filter those complaints themselves.
When the Local Government Ombudsman’s ‘Councillor Filter’ was removed in the 1980s, the number of complaints it dealt with rose by 44 per cent.17 In a report by the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner in 197818 it was estimated that the Parliamentary Ombudsman could receive as many as 40,000 complaints each year if direct access were permitted.19 Although the circumstances for the Parliamentary Ombudsman are very different to those in 1978 or for the Local Government Ombudsman, there are still some concerns that there might be an unmanageable increase if the MP filter were removed.
17 Logie, J, and Watchman, P., The Local Ombudsman, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1990 p 59 – rose in 1989 from 4,914 to 7,055.
18 Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Review of Access and Jurisdiction), HC 615 (1978–79), London: HMSO.
19 In 1978 the Parliamentary Commissioner received 1,259 complaints referred by MPs, and 1,777 directly from the public, which he had to reject.
