Annual Report 2007-08 - the Parliamentary and Health Service ...

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ContentsForewordGovernment departments, 07agencies and public bodiesThe National Health Service 33Working with other Ombudsmen 51in the UK and beyondOur workload and performance: 57facts and figuresManaging our resources 87Governance 93ForewordMaintaining an independent voiceat the heart of our democracyThe work of my Office during the course of 2007-08 reflects its place in the constitution andits twin functions of delivering individual benefitto complainants and serving the wider publicbenefit. It achieves this larger ambition by drawingon its experience, expertise and independenceto right individual wrongs and drive improvementsin public services. It is this fruitful mix of individualbenefit and public benefit that gives the Officeits distinctive character.© Crown Copyright 2008The text in this document (excluding the RoyalArms and other departmental or agency logos)may be reproduced free of charge in any formator medium providing it is reproduced accuratelyand not used in a misleading context. The materialmust be acknowledged as Crown copyrightand the title of the document specified.Where we have identified any third party copyrightmaterial you will need to obtain permission fromthe copyright holders concerned.For any other use of this material please write toOffice of Public Sector Information, InformationPolicy Team, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU ore-mail: licensing@opsi.gov.ukISBN: 9 78 010295 7990In July 2007 the Government startedconsultation on its proposals forconstitutional reform with the publicationof a Green Paper, The Governance ofBritain. That process has provided anopportunity for me to reaffirm the placeof the Ombudsman in our constitutionalarrangements. When the WilsonGovernment established the Office in1967, part of its purpose was to supportParliament in holding to account theExecutive, the government of the day.The way it was to do that was by assistingMPs with the task of investigatingcomplaints made to them by citizensabout their dealings with centralgovernment departments. This was notjust an alternative to the civil justicesystem. It was to be a way of ensuringthat Parliament could guarantee anindependent and authoritative voicefor aggrieved citizens.The Court of Appeal’s judgment inFebruary 2008 in the long-runninglitigation arising from my 2006 report,Trusting in the Pensions Promise, hasalso provided welcome reinforcementof the Ombudsman’s constitutionalposition. That judgment has confirmedthat, although the Ombudsman’s findingsare not binding on Government, therelevant Minister must either acceptthem or alternatively establish goodreason for not doing so. In effect, thejudgment requires the Minister to have‘due regard’ to the Ombudsman’s findings.I consider that a satisfactory outcomeand a helpful contribution to a viableframework for future relations betweenmy Office and Government. It is ajudgment that sits well with what I seeas one of the Ombudsman’s key roles:playing an active part in the deliberativeparliamentary process.That key role has been evident in thepast year in connection with tax credits.In October 2007 I published a secondspecial report, Tax Credits: Getting itwrong?, to provide an update on therecommendations made in my first reportand to give an indication of progresstowards correcting the problems I had
previously identified. I am pleased tosay that HM Revenue & Customsaccepted all the recommendations inmy second report and is taking actionto implement them. This is, in my view,a good example of the deliberativeprocess in action, with my Office playingits proper part by eliciting a reasonedresponse and effective remedial actionfrom government.As part of my function of deliveringbroader public benefit, I have duringthe course of 2007-08 published newguidance in the form of Principles forRemedy, to complement Principles ofGood Administration published last year.I have recently finished consulting ona third publication, Principles of GoodComplaint Handling, which we willpublish in autumn 2008. These variousPrinciples draw on the experience andexpertise of my Office to propose anobjective framework within which publicauthorities should seek to work. At thesame time, the Principles help clarify theexpectations against which I will judgeperformance. In short, the principlesof legality, flexibility, transparency,fairness and accountability are whatI regard as the necessary ingredientsof good administration; and if goodadministration is in part an attempt tohumanise the workings of bureaucracy,remedial action is the attempt to restorethat sense of human value to those whohave been denied it. Principles of GoodAdministration and Principles for Remedyare different sides of the same coin.None of this work is conducted inisolation from Ombudsmen colleaguesat home and abroad, and thiscollaborative work is something to whichI draw further attention later in thisReport. At home, the past year has seenthe implementation of a new RegulatoryReform Order that for the first timeformalises joint investigations by myOffice and the Local GovernmentOmbudsman. It has already been put toeffective use in dealing with a complaintthat crossed the boundary between localauthority and central government socialand healthcare responsibilities.Further afield, the Council of Europe’sHuman Rights Commissioner,Thomas Hammarberg, has encouragedOmbudsmen throughout Europe toco-operate more effectively with hisOffice and with national human rightsinstitutions to help uphold human rightsprinciples in public administration. I wasvery pleased to welcome Mr Hammarbergto my Office during his recent visit to theUK and look forward to contributing tothe initiative that he has promptedin the year ahead, not least by liaising,when appropriate, with the new Equalityand Human Rights Commission and withthe Parliamentary Joint Committee onHuman Rights.The key organisational challenges will,however, occur much closer to home.In April 2009, a new system for handlingcomplaints in the NHS will come intoforce, with increased emphasis on theneed for local resolution and with theOmbudsman acting as the second stagein the complaints process, after NHSbodies and individuals themselves haveconcluded their involvement. Thisdevelopment, despite its short-termorganisational challenges, holds out theprospect of longer-term improvementsto the system and is one that I warmlywelcome. For my own Office it representsyet a further opportunity to deliverindividual benefit to those alreadyaggrieved and wider public benefit toall those countless citizens who willmake use of the NHS in the future. Itis therefore just one aspect of that largerproject of delivering meaningful individualand public benefit, upon which itcontinues to be my privilege to befruitfully engaged.Ann AbrahamParliamentary and Health ServiceOmbudsmanOctober 2008
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We have had continuing contact with
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405%Telephone405%Telephone403%Writt
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Figure 9 continuedTop 5 Parliamenta
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Figure 11aNumber of types of closed
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Figure 13Top 5 departments by numbe
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Figure 15Top 5 departments by numbe
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Figure 16Health investigations repo
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Figure 19: Parliamentary complaints
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Figure 19 continued: Parliamentary
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Figure 19 continued: Parliamentary
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Figure 20: Distribution of continui
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Figure 22: Distribution of health c
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Judicial reviews of our decisionsan
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Applying our Principles to ourown w
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Capturing, organising and sharingou
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Financial reviewPHSO’s net operat
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Balance sheet as at 31 March 200831
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The Board as at March 2008Ann Abrah
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The Executive BoardAn Executive Boa
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