§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many complaints were registered against his Department in(a) 1990 to 1996 and (b) 1997 to 2002; how many are current; and what proportion were (i) taken up and (ii) upheld by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in those periods. [51220]
§ Mr. Straw[holding answer 19 April 20021]Information on the number of complaints registered and that are current is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, information on the outcome of statutory investigations that were concluded between 1990 and 1996 is set out in the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Annual Reports. Copies of the Annual Reports covering the period specified are available in the Library.
Information on the proportion of complaints taken up and upheld by Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration between 1990 and 1996 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
199WBetween 1997 and 2002 69 complaints were taken up by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. Of these, 44 were either rejected or discontinued and 10 were informally resolved. In the remaining 15 cases, where a full investigation was carried out, the PCA found that three complaints were justified, 10 partly justified and two not justified.
Complaints received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are handled in line with FCO complaints procedure, details of which are publicised on the FCO website at www.fco.gov.uk.