Costs and benefitsand benefits
71. A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared
and is attached to the explanatory statement.[34]
Costs
72. The Department states that there are no cost
implications arising from the implementation of the proposal.
The remuneration to be paid to the individual who holds all three
posts is to be set at that currently received by the Local Commissioner.
The three posts were advertised in March 1999 at a combined salary
of £102,999 per annum, rising to £107,408 from 1 April
2003. The Department does not intend to increase the salary payable
to the Local Commissioner to reflect the additional time commitment
to the offices of WAO and HSCW.[35]
73. The Department considers that the alternative
option to the regulatory reform order, that of making three separate
appointments and waiting for primary legislation, would not have
been viable. It would also have resulted in nugatory expenditure,
since another competition for the unified ombudsman post would
have been required following the passage of primary legislation.[36]
74. The Department did not set out in the explanatory
statement whether there were any costs involved in the practical
reorganisations consequent on the appointment of the same individual
to all three posts. We therefore asked the Department what the
practical consequences of the joint appointments would be, if
the proposed order were made, and whether there would be any resulting
costs.
75. Staff of the CLAW are located in Bridgend, while
staff of the WAO and HSCW are located on the same site in Cardiff.
In practice staff of the HSCW may undertake any function of the
WAO if authorised to do so by the WAO.[37]
76. The Department has stated that the passage of
the proposed order will have no practical consequences in terms
of relocation or co-location of offices.[38]
But, although staff of the three offices will not be required
to relocate following the passage of the proposed order, the Department
states that the present Local Commissioner and HSCW, Mr Peat,
will undertake to develop "the very different working practices
and organisational structure of the offices . . . into a common
culture." It considers that co-location of the three offices
is a prerequisite to this, although such co-locations or relocations
are not dependent on the passage of the proposed order.[39]
Benefits
77. The Department identified the following benefits
from the proposal:
- The proposal would allow progress
to be made towards the establishment of a unified ombudsman service
in Wales, which is an approach strongly endorsed by responses
to consultation on the subject;
- The arrangement whereby one individual would
hold three posts would provide "a greater consistency of
approach to investigations and a more co-ordinated response to
all complaints";
- One individual would better be able to raise
the overall profile of the ombudsman service.
78. The Department states that where the posts of
PCA, WAO and/or HSCW are held by the same person, existing legislation
prevents the PCA drawing a salary for the offices in Wales. The
three offices have historically been held by the same individual.
Since the establishment of the WAO and the National Assembly,
the amount of time the PCA has spent on Welsh matters as WAO or
HSCW has been charged to the Assembly on a pro-rata basis. The
Department indicates that there are therefore no savings to be
made in this area.
79. We consider that the proposal has been the
subject of, and takes appropriate account of, estimates of increases
or reductions in costs or other benefits which may result from
its implementation.
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