Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Scottish Prison Service

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld Reference 201502568 Sector Prisons Category complaints handling Decided 01 November 2015

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Complaint record keeping failures

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Our investigation showed that the officer who would have replied to the complaint considered that the language and tone of it were inappropriate, and that he told Mr C this, inviting him to resubmit the complaint with more appropriate wording. Mr C did so, and the officer then replied to the complaint.

We considered it was important that the officer did not simply refuse to answer the complaint. He explained to Mr C what he thought was wrong with it and gave him the chance to put that right. When Mr C followed his advice, he replied to the complaint. We considered that was an appropriate approach.

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