Appendix A: Letter from the
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
I welcome the further recommendations
your Committee has now made to strengthen and bring greater robustness
to the Local Government Ombudsman's investigative process.
Your Committee has recognised both the
efforts made by the Local Government Ombudsman to be more accountable,
efficient and transparent, and that further work needs to be undertaken
by the Ombudsman to ensure their role as a complaints redress
body are fully met. I very much welcome this view.
Your Committee's work and findings closely
align with the recommendations of the independent Governance Review
undertaken by Robert Gordon in 2013. As I announced to Parliament
in November 2013, I have accepted that Review's recommendations
that the governance arrangements of the Local Government Ombudsman
service should be reformed, so that there is only one Local Ombudsman,
supported by a Board including the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman, and strengthened by the addition of one or two non-executive
members. As noted in your Committee's report, the Government is
also now taking forward two further reviews of the complaints
landscape, in light of which we intend to consider future wider
public sector ombudsman arrangements. Any changes to ombudsman
arrangements as a result of all these reviews are likely to be
best implemented comprehensively, any necessary legislation being
on this basis.
May 2014
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