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

Parliamentary and health service ombudsman annual report 2007-08GovernanceThe post of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmancombines the two statutory roles of Parliamentary Commissionerfor Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England. 3The Ombudsman is solely responsible and accountable for theconduct and administration of all work carried out by the Officeof the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and forthe decisions made in each case.The Advisory BoardTo enhance the governance of PHSO,improve the transparency with whichit operates and bolster the independenceof the role, the Ombudsman appointeda non-statutory Advisory Board in 2004.This comprises the Ombudsman herself(as Chair and Chief Executive in line withher statutory accountability) and fournon-executive members who bring anexternal perspective to the Office’s work.With the exception of the Chairman ofthe Commission for Local Administrationin England, who joined the Board at theOmbudsman’s invitation, all the AdvisoryBoard members were appointed througha process of fair and open competition.The role of the Advisory Board is to actas a ‘critical friend’, providing supportand advice to the Ombudsman in herleadership of PHSO, and to bring anexternal perspective to assist her in thedevelopment of policy and practice.The Board provides specific adviceand support on:• Purpose, vision and values• Strategic direction and planning• Accountability to stakeholders,including stewardship of public funds• Internal control and risk managementarrangements.The Advisory Board has no rolein casework processes or decisions.The Advisory Board has two formalsub-committees which have key rolesin supporting the effective governanceof PHSO:• An Audit Committee which isresponsible for providing adviceand assurance to the Ombudsmanas Accounting Officer, and to theExecutive Board on the adequacy andeffectiveness of internal control andrisk management. It also overseesinternal and external auditarrangements which cover all areasof PHSO’s work, including both financialand non-financial systems. TheCommittee has four members: anexternal Chair appointed by theOmbudsman through a process of fairand open competition; theOmbudsman herself; and two furtherexternal members.• A Pay Committee which is responsiblefor providing advice on payarrangements in PHSO, and specificallyfor determining the pay of senior staff(except the Ombudsman herself, whichis set separately under statutoryarrangements). Its membership is theOmbudsman (as Chair) and any twoof the external members of theAdvisory Board.3The Ombudsman’s powers are set out in the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 and the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993.93