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SPSO 2002 - 2012 | Ten years as Scotland's Ombudsman

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Welcome to SPSO NEWS. In this edition you will find the Ombudsman's latest decisions on complaints about public services and commentary on recent and future activities. 



I laid three investigation reports about a water provider, a health board and the prison service before the Scottish Parliament today. I also laid a report on 70 decisions about all of the sectors under our remit. 

All the reports can be read on the ‘Our findings’ section of our website at www.spso.org.uk/our-findings and via links within this email.

 

Overview


Investigation reports
I am publishing my first public investigation report about the water industry since this area came under our jurisdiction in August 2011.  I am publishing this investigation in full, because the repeat failings in complaints handling at Business Stream need to be addressed.  I am also publishing two other investigation reports, one about a mother who was not given the opportunity to consider birthing options, and one about delays in post programme reporting by the Scottish Prison Service.
 
Customer sounding board
Our customer sounding board, made up of representatives of different public service user groups, met for the first time in early December.  It was a positive meeting and the board will be a useful forum for helping us with our current review of our customers’ journey, ensuring that we continue to build clarity, transparency, timeliness and empathy into our service.  Other areas of discussion were effective user feedback mechanisms, and raising awareness of our service with hard-to-reach groups.  The sounding board also highlighted that trust in complaints processes comes from people seeing that complaining leads to change - a pertinent reminder that we need to bear in mind as we continue to review and improve how we report the impact of our work.
 
The current members are Citizens Advice Scotland, the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, the Tenant Participation Advisory Service, Patient Opinion, Alliance Scotland, a prison visiting committee, Consumer Futures and Age Concern. 
 
Evidence to Committees
Another way we share learning from the complaints we consider is through written and oral evidence to parliamentary committees.  This month, I and members of my senior management team gave evidence to Holyrood’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee about our 2012/13 annual report and local government complaints report.  I also gave evidence to Westminster’s Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) inquiry into Parliament’s Ombudsman Service.  This is one of PASC’s two inquiries into complaints handling, and I was pleased to be invited to share Scotland’s experience and practice, including the benefits of direct access to our service (with no requirement for the public to go through their member of Parliament) and simplification of the complaints landscape.
 
Our written evidence to the committees and transcripts of the sessions are available at http://www.spso.org.uk/consultations-and-inquiries.
 
Further and higher education complaints reports
Since my last e-newsletter, we have published two more sectoral complaints reports, about the further and higher education complaints we considered in 2012/13.  Like the other sectoral reports we have published, they contain:

  • key complaints figures
  • issues and themes arising from the complaints we see
  • how we share learning and how we work with other organisations
  • an overview of the relevant activities of our complaints standards authority
  • our policy engagement. 
Our final report, about Scottish Government and devolved administration complaints, will be published later this month.

To read the reports and access other sectoral information, visit http://www.spso.org.uk/sector-specific-information.  To view our annual statistics, visit http://www.spso.org.uk/statistics.

Read my Overview and summary of today's investigation reports here, or by accessing the links below.

Investigation Reports

"My investigation found that there was unnecessary and protracted correspondence about the matter, and that Business Stream did not provide Mr C with a clear answer to his concerns ...  I recommended that Business Stream conduct an independent audit of their complaints process and how it is applied."

Billing; complaints handling
Business Stream (201300283)

> Read full report (PDF)
> Read summary


"This complaint concerned the care provided to a woman during her pregnancy and the delivery of her baby daughter, who was stillborn.  My main criticism of the health board is the lack of discussion of birthing options with the mother, and in my report I acknowledge the trauma and loss that she has suffered."

Maternity
Highland NHS Board (201203251)

> Read full report (PDF)
> Read summary


"The recommendation that I made is that the SPS review the current resourcing and management of sex offender programmes to ensure appropriate steps can be taken to avoid unnecessary delays in completing post programme reports."

Policy/ administration
Scottish Prison Service (201202918)

> Read full report (PDF)
> Read summary


Complaints Standards Authority - monthly update

Our work to create standardised complaints procedures and improve complaints handling standards across Scotland’s public services continues.  Read the latest update here (pdf).  For previous updates and further information, visit our dedicated website at www.valuingcomplaints.org.uk.



Jim Martin, Ombudsman | 18 December 2013

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