1 Background to the hearing
1. Ahead of the previous Housing Ombudsman, Dr Mike
Biles, retiring from his post on 3 November 2014 we wrote to Rt
Hon Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government, on 15 October requesting that the appointment of his
successor be subject to a pre-appointment hearing. We pointed
out that under the terms of the Housing Ombudsman scheme[1]
the appointment would be made by him as Secretary of State. We
already carry out pre-appointment hearings on the Local Government
Ombudsman and on the Chair of the Regulation Committee of the
Homes and Communities Agency. We also pointed out that the functions
and operation of these posts are very similar to that of the Housing
Ombudsman and therefore that the post should be subject to the
pre-appointment process. On 11 November Mr Pickles responded[2]
with support for our conducting a pre-appointment hearing and
he said that he planned to make the appointment in December. He
drew attention to the wider Ombudsman review and said that the
skills required for the role and the terms and conditions of the
appointment would reflect the potential for future changes to
the scope of the Housing Ombudsman.
2. On 5 December the Government supplied us with
a memorandum setting out the background to the post, the requirements
of the post and details of the recruitment process, which is printed
with this Report.[3] DCLG
told us that the advertisement for the post was published on 29
October 2014 and that by the deadline of noon on 7 November six
applications had been received. On 12 December the Department
for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) informed us that Denise
Fowler had been identified as the Government's preferred candidate
to take up the post of the Housing Ombudsman and supplied further
documents; the candidate's curriculum vitae is printed with this
Report.[4]
3. We accordingly invited Denise Fowler to attend
a pre-appointment hearing on 16 December 2014.
4. In advance of the hearing, we invited members
of the public to suggest priorities for the incoming Housing Ombudsman
via Twitter: #NewHousingOmbuds.
1 Housing Ombudsman Service Scheme, February 2013,
para 60 Back
2
Appendix 1 Back
3
Appendix 2 Back
4
Appendix 3 Back
| 
