HL Deb 15 October 2001 vol 627 cc78-9WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Macdonald of Tradeston on 11 July (WA 82), whether they expect to be able to set out their conclusions in relation to the consultation exercise before the end of this year; and, if not, why not. [HL696]

The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)

In July this year, the Government made a statement on the consultation exercise on the review of the Public Sector Ombudsmen in England. In this statement the Government reaffirmed their commitment to the renaissance of public services, improving access and delivery and driving up standards. The effective handling of complaints is an important element of this programme of renewal. But there will be times where, having pursued a complaint about a particular public service, a complainant remains dissatisfied. Such cases need to be considered independently and that role is fulfilled by, among others, the public sector ombudsmen in England that were the subject of this review. These ombudsmen comprise the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the Health Service Commissioner and the Commission for Local Administration (which comprises the three Local Government Ombudsmen and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration ex officio).

In 1999, following representations from the ombudsmen, the Government announced a review to determine whether the present arrangements are in the best interest of complainants and others, against the background of moves towards more integrated public services and an increasing focus on the needs of the consumers of such services. The review team consulted widely and their report was published in April 2000. A consultation paper seeking views on the review's main recommendations and its other conclusions was published in June 2000. In all we received 174 responses to the consultation paper and copies have been placed in the Library of the House together with a statement of the Government's conclusions.

Briefly, these are that, in light of the responses received to the consultation paper, the Government are satisfied that there is broad support for the review's main recommendations.

We therefore intend to replace the existing arrangements by a unified and flexible ombudsman body for central and local government and the National Health Service (excluding NHS Pensions, which will continue to fall under the jurisdiction of the Pensions Ombudsman, established by Part X of the Pensions Schemes Act 1993 (as amended). In line with the review's recommendations, there will be direct access to this new body irrespective of whether the complaint is concerned wholly or in part with a central government body. Furthermore, and again in line with the review's recommendations, the new body will have a collegiate structure within which the individual ombudsmen are identified with a particular group of the bodies under jurisdiction but free to carry out crosscutting investigations. Proposals for the precise powers and accountability of the new body, and on whether its jurisdiction should be extended beyond the bodies subject to the jurisdiction of the existing ombudsmen, will be published in due course.