Select Committee · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2019-20

Status: Closed Opened: 22 Sep 2020 Closed: 3 May 2021 14 recommendations 1 report

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) is launching its annual scrutiny session into the work of the PHSO in the financial year 2019/20. According to the House of Commons Standing Order 146 , PACAC's role in relation to the PHSO is: to examine the reports of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and the … Show more

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Seventh report - Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman… HC 843 25 Jan 2021 14 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

6 items
5 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The PHSO should report in its annual report and accounts the number of new enquiries...

The PHSO should report in its annual report and accounts the number of new enquiries and complaints that have been received in that financial year. This number is separate from the number of enquiries and complaints that the PHSO has “handled” in that same financial year. Read more

Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will report the number of new enquiries separately from handled complaints.
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6 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The PHSO should provide a breakdown of how long health cases that are over one...

The PHSO should provide a breakdown of how long health cases that are over one year old have been open for. This information should also be produced next to the general information the PHSO provides on the amount of time it has taken to close cases in that financial year. … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will provide the specific breakdown of health cases requested.
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7 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The PHSO should report regularly in its annual report the number of cases in the...

The PHSO should report regularly in its annual report the number of cases in the queue for allocation to a caseworker and the average amount of time it took for cases to be allocated to a caseworker. This will be particularly important to understand the impact covid-19 has had on … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations on performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will report the specific metrics requested.
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9 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The Committee recommends that the PHSO should publish a target for responding to correspondence, and...

The Committee recommends that the PHSO should publish a target for responding to correspondence, and should track its performance against that standard and report to the Committee each year. (Paragraph 31) Value for Money

Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will publish a target for correspondence response or track performance against such a standard.
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10 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The Committee believes that regular peer review studies will be an important source of assurance...

The Committee believes that regular peer review studies will be an important source of assurance of the effectiveness of the PHSO’s processes and in turn, its value for money. The Committee recommends that peer review should include specific assurance on the quality of the PHSO’s casework. This should involve analysing … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government welcomes the idea of peer review and will inform the appointed peer review chair of the committee's recommendations regarding the review's scope, including casework quality. However, they emphasize the need for flexibility and the independent chair's ultimate decision-making power on the report's structure.
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12 Recommendation Seventh report - Parliamentary and Heal… Acknowledged

The Committee recommends that the value for money study should adopt the following broad structure...

The Committee recommends that the value for money study should adopt the following broad structure in its report: For each area examined, the report should first set out what is expects to see of a modern ombudsman organisation, it should then explain what it did actually find and finally it … Read more

Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the committee's recommendation for a specific report structure for the value for money study and will inform the future peer review chair of these suggestions. However, it stresses the independent chair's ultimate authority over the report's final structure.
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Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
23 Nov 2020 Amanda Amroliwala CBE · Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Rob Behrens CBE · Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman View ↗

Who gave evidence

2 witnesses
WitnessOrganisationSessions
Amanda Amroliwala CBE · Deputy Ombudsman and CEO Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman 1
Rob Behrens CBE · Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman 1

Correspondence

11 letters
DateDirectionTitle
7 Sep 2021 To cttee Letter from Rob Behrens CBE, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on the …
7 Sep 2021 From cttee Letter to Rob Behrens CBE, Chair and Ombudsman, Parliamentary and Health Servic…
10 Jun 2021 Rob Behrens CBE, Ombudsman and Chair, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsma…
8 Jun 2021 From cttee Letter to Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster on the …
2 Feb 2021 To cttee Letter from Rob Behrens CBE, Ombudsman and Chair, Parliamentary and Health Serv…
27 Jan 2021 From cttee Letter to Rob Behrens CBE, Ombudsman and Chair, Parliamentary and Health Servic…
26 Jan 2021 To cttee Letter from Rob Behrens CBE, Ombudsman and Chair, Parliamentary and Health Serv…
16 Dec 2020 To cttee Letter from Rob Behrens CBE, Ombudsman and Chair, Parliamentary and Health Serv…
17 Nov 2020 To cttee Letter from PHSO The Facts, dated 10.11.20
13 Oct 2020 To cttee Letter to and response from Rob Behrens, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombud…
29 Sep 2020 From cttee Letter to the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer on PHSO Fundin…