Ombudsman's jurisdiction
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3. The Ombudsman is not empowered to consider the content or interpretation of legislation; those are matters for Parliament and the courts respectively. It is also not for the Ombudsman to determine the Home Office’s policy, although she can consider whether they have correctly implemented their own policies and internal procedures.
4. The Ombudsman can only comment on the actions of those bodies within her jurisdiction. As neither the company nor the Animal Procedures Committee are within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, it follows that she cannot comment on the actions of those bodies.
5. When considering complaints concerning decisions that are reliant on professional judgments, the Ombudsman would not normally seek to substitute her judgment for that of the relevant experts. Mrs G will appreciate that there are many such decisions within this case, and this confines our legitimate interest to the overall process governing this area.
6. Finally, it is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate the answers that a government minister has given in Parliament. What she could look at, however, is whether the Home Office provided the minister with inaccurate information. Before she would do so, the Ombudsman would wish to see some evidence that the alleged maladministration on the part of the Home Office lead to an injustice for which there was a worthwhile remedy.
