Second Special Report - Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2018–19: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s response to the Committee’s Second report

This is the government's response, published 28 September 2020.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, agreeing with most and endorsing the call for a fresh start on Ombudsman reform legislation.

• On explaining its decisions, PHSO agrees there is a need to improve how it explains how it gathers and uses evidence. It says it no longer publishes internal process scores against the Service Charter, which have been replaced by a Quality Assurance Framework.
• On Covid-19 and timeliness, PHSO agrees transparency matters and is "currently considering how to present this information in the next Annual Report". On clinical advice, it says planned changes "may" be delayed and that it will conduct an independent evaluation during the next Peer Review.
• On legislation, PHSO "fully endorse[s]" starting the process anew and calls on the Government to revisit its plans for a single Public Service Ombudsman. It also supports removing the 'MP filter', calling the status quo "an outdated barrier to accessing justice".
• PHSO accepts the recommendation on compliance reporting and says it will "explore how best to report on compliance in the 2020–21 Annual Report". On the Complaints Standards Framework, it says the consultation will conclude by the autumn and it plans to pilot the Framework once finalised.

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