The Parliamentary Ombudsman's jurisdiction
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5. It is not for me to question the merits of the Government’s policy decision to ban swill feeding, nor the content of the legislation implementing that ban; those are properly matters for Parliament. I can, however, consider Defra’s general handling of the consultation and ban, including how departmental officials presented the consultation responses to Ministers, and whether there were shortcomings in respect of the adequacy of the inspection regime at Burnside Farm such that they constituted maladministration, and whether that led to an unremedied injustice. Local authorities and the actions of their officers are not within my remit. I refer to their actions solely to set in context the actions of the Defra officers.
6. I should also explain that the decision taken by Ministers on the question of compensation for swill users was a discretionary one. A complaint about the exercise of that discretion does fall within my remit. However, my powers in respect of discretionary decisions are limited. I can investigate such decisions but can only question the merits of them if I find maladministration in the way in which they were taken. The likely outcome of upholding such a complaint would be to ask the relevant Department, in this case Defra, to consider the decision again, as it would be inappropriate for me to seek to substitute my judgment for that of Defra Ministers.
