Governance statement

This is the governance statement taken from our annual report 2022-23.

Introduction

This governance statement sets out the governance, risk management and internal control arrangements for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. It applies to the financial year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Statutory position

The Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 and the Health Commissioners Act 1993, respectively, define the statutory roles of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (the Parliamentary Ombudsman) and Health Service Commissioner (the Health Service Ombudsman). These two roles are vested in one individual post as the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Governance structure

As Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, in statute and by warrant of His Majesty, I am responsible for the sound governance and effective internal control of the Ombudsman service. In law the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is a corporation sole and has a personal jurisdiction. This is not consistent with requirements of good governance. Therefore, I am the Chair of a unitary Board which is in place to improve the governance of the organisation. My executive responsibilities, as a corporation sole, are thus exercised personally as an individual but also aided by means of defined and corporate arrangements that allow for proper scrutiny. As Chair of the Board, I promote collective decision-making. I reserve the right, given my statutory role, to depart from the Board’s decisions but only in exceptional circumstances and with a commitment to put my reasons in writing. I did not exercise this right in 2022-23.

I have a statutory responsibility for individual cases but have given authority for case activity to officers in a written delegation scheme. I act personally in complex cases and where we identify serious or repeated mistakes that may have system-wide relevance. To ensure that this extensive casework is managed within a defined system of appropriate oversight, I have a detailed scheme of casework delegated authority and have appointed three Deputy Ombuds: the Chief Executive, the Director of Operations, Clinical and Legal, and, from January 2023, the Director of Strategy. The Board scrutinises overall performance of casework, but not individual cases.

As Accounting Officer, I am accountable to Parliament for the stewardship of our resources. I have delegated executive responsibility to the Chief Executive for effective financial control arrangements as Accountable Officer. This is a contractual responsibility and allows me to have a separate accountable person charged with stewardship and probity for our use of public money.

I discharge my responsibility through assurance from the Accountable Officer and the Executive Team, and through assurance and challenge by the Board, the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, the Quality Committee and the Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Rob Behrens, CBE

Accounting Officer, Ombudsman and Chair

Our Governance Framework

Download the Governance Framework (PDF 638KB)

Register of Interests

The  interests of the non-executive and executive Board members are recorded in our Register of Interests (PDF 181KB). These details are updated annually and as required.