Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Deferred
Assess steps to reduce PHSO staff turnover, reviewing hybrid working policy by summer 2024
Conclusion
We note the welcome increase in the PHSO’s number of staff, especially its new caseworkers. Likewise, we welcome the fact that it has retained specialist workers and has increased the amount of training it delivers to staff. This increase in training means it is even more important for the PHSO to retain staff, given the additional investment now being made in them. The Ombudsman and Chief Executive suggested current levels of staff turnover could be the result of a lack of opportunity for career development and the PHSO’s different policy on hybrid working compared to other ombudsmen. We welcome the PHSO’s intention to review its hybrid working policy next year. The PHSO should separately assess whether there are further steps it can and should take to reduce staff turnover, including how far its hybrid working policy is leading to higher turnover than other ombudsmen. The PHSO should look to complete its reviews of hybrid working and the factors causing staff turnover by the summer of 2024, and share its findings with us ahead of our next scrutiny session for the 2023/24 period. (Paragraph 44) Value for Money
Government Response Summary
The government's response did not address staff turnover or hybrid working policies. Instead, it outlined the PHSO's five-year Digital, Data and Technology strategy, its ambition to be a leading digital ombudsman, and a commitment to report back on financial savings from this strategy.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The nature of PHSO’s work means that we have the potential to harness data to identify recurrent failings in public services nationally and advise on system improvements. Our DDaT strategy launched in September 2023 sets the direction over the next five years for how we will use technology and data to improve our service. Our ambition is to be a leading digital ombudsman through a full digital service pathway from finding out about PHSO to the closure of a complaint. This will enable us to deliver a more accessible service that is tailored to the needs of individuals: 3 Institute for Government, Whitehall Monitor 2024, Whitehall Monitor 2024: Part 1 | Institute for Government Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2022–23: Government and PHSO response 9 • Complainants and members of the public to be guided through the complaints process as easily as possible, including being able to track the progress of their complaint • MPs and their staff will be able to use our digital services to access information and insight about the complaints they have referred and the issues that we are seeing in their constituencies • Organisations we investigate will understand how we investigate complaints and what we expect from them, as well as being able to safely and securely share evidence with us online. • PHSO colleagues will be digitally confident using technology that simplifies delivery so that we can be more data driven to help predict demand and spot trends. efficient by saving time where it is appropriate to use such technologies. service, is informed by the 2022 independent peer review of PHSO’s service and is in line with HMT’s public value framework. We are concluding the embedding of review recommendations which include taking steps to understand and plan for the demand implications of increased public awareness and widened access to our service. We have made efficiencies in our casework processes, which have enabled us to date to absorb demand above forecast levels. Through the introduction of our public value model and the improved use of data analytics we will be better able to predict demand for our service. We will provide a progress update in our next annual report, and prior to the next inquiry we will report back to the Committee on potential financial savings that have been identified to date through the delivery of our Digital, Data and Technology strategy. We anticipate that we may potentially begin to realise some of these benefits from year 2–3 of the DDaT strategy in 2026 up until 2030.