Responsibilities of the Chair
of the Office for Legal Complaints
7. The position of Chair is the first appointment
in the organisation. The Chair will initially be responsible for
the following:
- The appointment of the OLC
Board;
- The appointment of a Chief
Executive and Chief Ombudsman;
- The creation of the Ombudsman
scheme;
- The reporting arrangements
with the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the reporting relationships
with the professional regulatory bodies;
- Establishing good relationships
with other stakeholders including consumers, the legal profession,
the Ministry of Justice and others; and
- Establishing the OLC's organisational
structures; staff and employment terms; systems; policies; building;
other infrastructure; and establishing a budget and financial
controls.
8. Once the organisation is up and running the
Chair will be responsible for the strategic direction of the Office
for Legal Complaints, maintaining good relationships with stakeholders
and ensuring that the organisation is fulfilling its statutory
duty as an Ombudsman scheme by satisfying agreed targets as set
by the Legal Services Board. The Chair will also be expected to
be an ambassador for the Office for Legal Complaints and its work.
The Ombudsman, once he/she is appointed and the complaint system
has been developed, will be responsible for day to day handling
of complaints.
9. Elizabeth France CBE was recruited to the
position of Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints through open
competition. The role was advertised in the national press following
the appointment of the Legal Services Board which has responsibility
for regulating and appointing the post. Although we raised, and
expressed some surprise at the high salary level of £70,000
for 80 days work, this had been determined before the post was
advertised.[4]
The candidate
10. Elizabeth France CBE is currently Chief Ombudsman
and Chief Executive of the Ombudsman Service Ltd., which provides
the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service (Otelo), the Energy Ombudsman
Service and the Surveyors Ombudsman Service. Previously she was
a career Civil Servant. She resigned from the Civil Service to
become the Data Protection Registrar in September 1994 becoming
Information Commissioner in January 2001. She is a non-executive
Director of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. She is a
member of the General Assembly of the University of Manchester
and Vice President of the University of Aberystwyth. She has
been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of De Montfort,
Loughborough and Bradford and is a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.
In June 2002 she was awarded a CBE for services to data protection.
11. In announcing that Elizabeth France was their
preferred candidate the Chair of the Legal Services Board, David
Edmonds, said:
Elizabeth has an outstanding record of achievement
in consumer protection and redress and would offer the OLC considerable
insight and experience. Subject to the Select Committee's approval
of Elizabeth's appointment, I look forward to working with her
in driving forward the implementation of the OLC and as an immediate
priority appointing the rest of the OLC Board members.[5]
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5
Press Notice, Legal Services Board, 10 October 2008 Back
