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

Capturing, organising and sharingour knowledgeManaging our knowledge andinformation betterGetting the most from the extensiveknowledge and information held bothby the organisation and our staff isessential to improving the effectivenessof PHSO. In 2007-08 we launched andcommunicated internally and externallyour programme to manage theimprovements we recognise are requiredin this area. A new and experienced seniormanager was appointed in February 2008as Head of Knowledge and InformationManagement to lead the programme,and a practical plan and associatedgovernance for delivery of theprogramme were developed.This includes five interconnectedworkstreams covering people;information content; culture; processes;and technology. During the year keyactivities included completing a jointreview with The National Archives of ourrecords management arrangements, whichprovides a clear plan to ensure that thesereflect best practice as well asexpectations in accordance with our ownPrinciples of Good Administration. Wealso developed and implemented a newcorporate business classification(taxonomy) for our caseworkmanagement system to support ourcasework related reporting ability.Developing our external relations,influence and impactApplying Principles of GoodAdministration and Principles forRemedy in our caseworkOur Principles of Good Administrationwere published in March 2007 and ourPrinciples for Remedy in October 2007and we have applied them increasingly inour casework throughout 2007-08. Ourcasework conference for staff in 2008focused specifically on sharing goodpractice in applying both sets of Principlesin our casework.Strengthening our outreachIn light of customer and stakeholderfeedback we have recognised the needto strengthen how we approach andexecute more effective relationships withthe bodies we deal with. We thereforedeveloped and agreed an externalrelations strategy and established a newteam, External Liaison and Outreach,to deliver it. This year the team has beenfocusing on setting out guidance tocommunicate better to our stakeholdersthe approach we take in consideringcomplaints and the expectations we haveof bodies within jurisdiction. A keyproduct from this will be a newdocument, the third in the Ombudsman’strilogy of principles – the Principles ofGood Complaint Handling – which isbeing consulted on and will be launchedin autumn 2008.84