§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 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. [51222]
§ Ruth Kelly[holding answer 19 April 2002]: Complaints handling is one of the areas covered by the Six Service Standards for central Government. Standard Five states that each central Government Department and agency "should have a complaints procedure or procedures for services it provides, publicise it, including on the Internet, and send the customer information if they ask". Information about the Treasury's complaints procedures is on the Treasury's website at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/About/ about_complaints.cfm
The Cabinet Office guidance "How to Deal with Complaints" advises Departments and agencies that they should develop a system to record all complaints about service delivery and policy. The Treasury has yet to do this so the information requested is not collected centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the numbers of complaints taken up and upheld by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration is contained in the parliamentary ombudsman's annual reports covering the periods specified. Copies of the annual reports are available in the Library of the House and for the reports from 1997–98 on the parliamentary ombudsman's website at www.ombudsman.org.uk/pca/par01/index.htm
During 2001–02 the Treasury received two new statutory statements of complaint from the parliamentary ombudsman and have responded to both which have been resolved. Since 1 April 2002 the Treasury has received no new statutory statements of complaint.
The Treasury has one case that is current.