Item 6 13 July 2017
Ombudsman Association Executive Committee meeting
13 JULY 2017
Item 6 – Business Plan 2017-18
Paper by: Donal Galligan
Purpose
1. This paper provides the Executive Committee with an update on the progress made on delivery of the Business Plan (Annex A) and the activities of the Association since the last Executive Committee meeting.
Actions
2. The Executive Committee to note the Business Plan Progress Report (Annex A), and the Association Report, and discuss any issues arising.
Focus for 2017-18
Alongside the day-to-day tasks of running the organisation, the Executive Committee have agreed to focus our time or resources on the following areas for 2017-18:
1. Establish membership of the Association as a necessity for those involved in complaint handling.
2. Develop a Caseworker Competency Framework for all members to support development of a ‘casework’ profession.
3. Support development and sharing of best practice in capturing, measuring and reporting on performance against Service Standards Framework.
4. Review the Principles of Good Complaint Handling to ensure compliance with current good practice.
Association Report
Object a) Support and promote an effective system of complaint handling and redress in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Britain’s Crown Dependencies and Britain’s Overseas Territories.
Proposed Rail Passengers Ombudsman
3. The Director continued to meet and engage with officials from the Rail Delivery Group in May and July to try and ensure that the proposals brought forward meet the Association’s criteria. It is expected that there will be significant progression of their project in the next month, with a service established in the autumn.
Caseworker Competency Framework
4. Unfortunately there have not been any formal expressions of interest from members in the secondment opportunity to lead the project on developing a caseworker competency framework. The Director is now in discussions with individual members to explore how the project could be taken forward.
UK Administrative Justice Forum
5. The timing of the UK General Election meant that the proposals to create a new body to succeed the AJF did not get ministerial clearance. We are awaiting announcements.
South Korea delegation – Korean Institute for Defence Analyses
6. In May the Director addressed a delegation from South Korea at the office of the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces, London. The delegation was on a fact finding mission to explore establishing a military ombudsman. The Director presented on the role of the Association and the best practice displayed by our members.
CAROA Conference
7. In June the Director presented at the Caribbean Ombudsman Association conference in Bonaire, alongside speakers from the International Ombudsman Institute and the African Ombudsman Research Centre, on the benefits of networking and sharing best practice. The conference gave the opportunity to develop relationships with other ombudsman associations and networks, and more importantly with the Association’s own overseas members.
Object b) Encourage, develop and protect the role of an ombudsman in both the public and private sectors as the ‘best practice’ model for resolving complaints, according recognition through membership.
ADR Directive / Consumer environment
8. The Director has continued to engage with Money Saving Expert who are producing a report on ombudsman schemes in the consumer sector for the Westminster APPG on Consumer Protection. The Director has also been engaging with officials from the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, who have been exploring updating the criteria for redress schemes in the property sector. The engagement has provided opportunities for the Director to highlight the OA’s membership criteria, best practice of members, and the work on the Service Standards Framework.
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
9. The proposals from the Ministry of Justice to put the existing Prisons & Probation Ombudsman (for England and Wales) on a statutory basis, through the Prisons & Courts Bill, have not been included in the re-introduced Courts Bill, following the concerns raised with Government officials and Parliamentarians that the proposed legislation did not meet the OA’s membership criteria.
Re-Validation programme
10. The Director has been involved in a significant amount of work relating to the programme of re-validation of members.
Legal Database
11. A teleconference took place in May where the steering group discussed the design and content for the proposed legal database. Further work is now underway.
Strategic Position Statement on Ombudsman
12. The review of the OA’s Strategic Position Statement on Ombudsman through the Policy Network was completed in May and the revised version agreed by members at the AGM in May.
Object c) Provide an authoritative voice and promote best practice and policy for those involved in complaint handling and redress to ensure an effective service for the public.
Engagement with members
13. The Director continues to meet with members to learn more about their current priorities and the challenges facing their organisations, and how the Association can support them. These meetings are extremely valuable in ensuring the Director keeps up to date with developments across the sector.
14. In June the Director met with the Independent Football Ombudsman, attended the launch of the Property Ombudsman’s annual report in the House of Lords, visited the offices of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, and met with colleagues from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands in Bonaire. The Director also attended the meeting of the Public Services Ombudsman Group in Brussels, which provided the opportunity to engage with several of the OA’s members. In July the Director met with colleagues at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Interest Groups
15. The Chairs of the Interest Groups are meeting on 21 July in London to discuss how better to share information and ideas between the Groups to ensure each is informed of the various work streams being pursued.
Casework Interest Group
16. The Casework Interest Group met on 12 May 2017 at Gibraltar House in London, hosted by the Gibraltar Public Services Ombudsman. Since the inaugural meeting in November 2016, Jane Brothwood, the Adjudicator’s Office, had agreed to chair the Group. The Group shared experiences of streamlining processes and producing more succinct reports, and discussed terms of reference for the Group. A number of possible themes had been identified at the previous meeting. After discussion it was agreed to establish working groups to look into two specific topics in more detail: the Quality Assurance working group will be led by Jonathan Francis of IPCC, and the Decision Making working group will be led by Jamie McGrandles of SPSO.
First Contact
17. The First Contact Interest Group met at the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman’s offices in Manchester on 12 May 2017. The Group received a presentation on reflective and reflexive practice in coaching, and on operating flexible working practices for frontline staff. The Group also discussed promoting electronic contact as the first point of contact, procuring training, and reasonable adjustments.
Overseas Members Network
18. The Overseas Members Network met in the margins of the Caribbean Ombudsman Association Conference in Bonaire on 16 June 2017. Colleagues reaffirmed the value in the Network and discussed the provision of a secretariat and the need to firm up terms of reference. Colleagues discussed a number of issues, including the balance that needs to be struck between focusing on systemic investigations or on individual complaints when resources are limited, and the conflict that sometimes arose in the tension between confidentiality and transparency. Following on from discussions at the CAROA Conference, colleagues also discussed the need to review their own legislation to be clearer on whether perceived restrictions were a result of legislation or convention. The challenge in persuading Governments to establish effective internal complaints processes was also discussed, especially considering the limited resources available.
2017 Conference
19. The feedback from the 2017 Conference in Loughborough in May has been very positive and comments will be taken into account for the 2018 Conference.
OA Seminars
20. The Director is meeting with the UK Administrative Justice Institute (UKAJI) and JUSTICE on 20 July to discuss the joint seminar on ombudsman reform / the Draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill. The Bill was not included in the Queen’s Speech suggesting it is unlikely to be taken forward in the next two years. A date for the seminar will shortly be identified, possibly in late October.
Members’ Area of website
21. The new system of personalised alerts when new content is posted in the Members’ Area was launched ahead of the AGM. Over 160 individuals have now signed up for alerts. Feedback will be commissioned in Q3 and used to improve the service.
Object d) Support open and transparent accountability and endorse principles of good complaint handling.
OA Service Standards Framework
22. The Service Standards Framework was finalised in May and launched at the AGM in Loughborough on 25 May. There were initial discussions at the Conference workshops on how best to develop and share best practice in capturing, measuring and reporting on performance against standards, and that will be taken forward later this year.
Forthcoming activities
11 July / Director meeting with Andy Allen, Chartered Trading Standards Institute, London11 July / Director meeting with Kevin Grix, Furniture Ombudsman, London
13 July / Director attending Ombudsman Services stakeholder event, London
17 July / Director meeting with Steve James, Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, London
17 July / Director meeting with Tim Miller, Gambling Commission, London
20 July / Director meeting with UKAJI and JUSTICE to discuss joint seminar on Ombudsman reform, London
21 July / Director meeting with Chairs of Interest groups to discuss co-ordination of activities, London
25 July / Director visiting the office of the Legal Ombudsman, Birmingham
July - tbc / Director meeting with Linnea Gandhi to discuss follow-up from OA Conference, London
Aug / Sept – tbc / Director visiting office of the Furniture Ombudsman, Stevenage
September – tbc / Director visiting office of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, Edinburgh
September – tbc / Director / OA Support visits to potential venues for 2018 Conference, Edinburgh
September – tbc / Validation Committee meeting
Autumn - tbc / Joint seminar with UKAJI and JUSTICE on draft Public Services Ombudsman Bill / Ombudsman reform, London
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