Council MD marks a first with new role
MICHELLE Morris has become the new Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
Ms Morris, who leaves her role as managing director of Blaenau Gwent County Council having been appointed to the new role back in January, took over as the new Ombudsman on Friday.
She is the first woman to hold the post since it was established in 2005.
Originally from Pembrokeshire, Ms Morris held senior roles at a number of councils in Wales before moving to work in Scotland.
There she was deputy chief executive and monitoring officer of The Highland Council, before returning to Wales to take over the top job at Blaenau Gwent in 2017.
Ms Morris said: “I am delighted to be taking up the unique and important position.
“I look forward to continuing the good work of the office and to ensuring that our services are accessible to those who have complaints, that we work with public authorities across Wales to ensure the standards of public services continue to improve, and that the conduct of councillors, who represent us all, is sustained at the highest level.”
Ms Morris succeeds the previous Ombudsman, Nick Bennett, who held the office between August 2014 and March this year.
Hailing from Ynys Mon, Mr Bennett was the Liberal Democrat candidate on the island in both the 2001 General Election and 2003 Welsh Assembly election, and finished fourth both times.
He is also a former chief executive of Community Housing Cymru.
The Ombudsman has legal powers to look into complaints about public services and independent care providers in Wales.
Ms Morris’ office will also investigate complaints that local government councillors have breached their authority’s code of conduct.
The Ombudsman is independent of all government bodies and the service is impartial.