§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints there have been about the Financial Ombudsman's handling of casework(a) in the UK and (b) in the Blackpool, South constituency in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [58831]
§ Ruth Kelly(a) Ahead of assuming its full powers on 1 December 2001, the Financial Ombudsman Service consolidated and revised the different procedures that the eight predecessor schemes had in place for handling complaints against themselves. The Financial Ombudsman Service Board appointed an Independent Assessor on 1 December 2001 and, in the period since his appointment up to 31 March 2002, he received 50 complaints. Of these, 12 were upheld (in whole or in part), 14 were rejected, 8 were determined to be outside the Independent Assessor's terms of reference and 16 awaited a decision. Earlier figures for complaints against the eight predecessor schemes are incomplete. (b) Of the 50 complaints received by the Independent Assessor, none came from the Blackpool South constituency (postcodes FY4, FY3 and FY1).