This blog originally appeared on the website of Democratic Audit on 20 June 2014 and was written in partnership with Jane Martin.
Strong democracies should be backed up by robust accountability
frameworks, an aspect of which includes redress mechanisms. In a new report published by Democratic Audit, Richard Kirkham and Jane Martin, the
Local Government Ombudsman, explores the current debates surrounding
the proposal to integrate the ombudsman community in England. In this
extract from the report they consider why the consensus in support
of this proposal has not yet produced agreement on the way forward.
Read our new report into the creation of a single Public Services Ombudsman for England
It is now widely understood that the austerity drive of the Coalition
Government has triggered a distinctive shift in the model of public
service provision in England. A significant aspect of this shift is the
hastening of a drift towards consumer democracy which, amongst other
impacts, has forced the ombudsman world to reconsider the strength of
the redress service that it provides. This reflective process has led to
the reappearance of the long-standing proposal to harmonise existing
ombudsman schemes into an integrated Public Services Ombudsman (PSO) for
England.
At its strongest, the proposal to form an English PSO entails the
harmonisation of multiple schemes, plus the reconsideration of the
office’s powers. Given the potential scale of the project and its need
for new legislation, the formation of an English PSO should be
considered a major exercise in reform. By contrast, minimalist
approaches to ombudsman reform reduce the chances of meaningful reform
being implemented and run the risk of the ombudsman system being
restructured in a manner insufficiently robust or flexible enough to
meet the challenges of the future.
But major reforms require a high degree of political will to secure
implementation and are hampered by the lack of a clear process in the
administrative justice system as to how such projects should be
conducted. In response to this dilemma this paper highlights both the
reasons why major reform in the ombudsman sector is necessary, and the
different perspectives on administrative justice that should be
accounted for within that reform process. As well as outlining the key
features that should be included in a 21st century
ombudsman scheme, we conclude the paper by drawing together some
principles which should inform the creation of an integrated ombudsman
scheme. So long as sufficient political capital in the project can be
secured, combined these principles have the potential to align the
capacity of the ombudsman system with the public service model that has
evolved in modern England and in so doing allow it to contribute fully
to the promotion of administrative justice.
