Today is a historic leap forward for voice of the Welsh public
Nick Bennett explains how the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Bill, which comes into force today, will help drive up standards in public service delivery across Wales
THE Swedish Parliament established the office of Justitie ombudsman in 1809 to safeguard the rights of the citizen when dealing with the government.
Fast forward to the present day, and there are now more than 150 Ombudsman institutions across the world, and while there has been a broadening of definition, its key role has effectively remained the same – putting things right for those that it serves, as a defender of the citizen.
Here in Wales, my office continues to receive a growing number of complaints at a time when our public services face an immense strain. Austerity, an ageing society and heightened expectations are all contributing factors.
Over the past five years, complaints and enquiries to my office have increased 113%, while health complaints have escalated by 35% during the same timeframe.
I believe my office can be used as a vehicle for change, taking the lessons from complaints to help drive up standards of public service delivery and corporate culture.
Today marks a historic day in that effort, and for our legislature, as the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Bill – the first major piece of Committee-led legislation since the Assembly was established – comes into force.
The Bill will allow my office to proactively initiate investigations rather than waiting for a complaint to arrive at our door, removing bureaucratic barriers to access to justice and ensuring a seamless complaints investigation service for people let down by the healthcare system.
It’s been a long journey, but one that has been worth embarking on and I am thankful to the Assembly’s Finance Committee and the Equality Local Government and Communities Committee for their work in bringing and passing this legislation. In granting my office additional powers, we now have an invaluable opportunity to improve public services in Wales and to empower you – the service user.
During my five years in office, I
have often felt deeply uncomfortable that under-represented and vulnerable groups who may be subject to injustice do not always feel comfortable – or fully able – to make a complaint to my office.
For example, who complains on behalf of the homeless person who can’t access vital housing services? Or the pensioner neglected by carers in their own home but too scared to complain and give their name?
My ambition is – and has always been – to use this new legislation to provide a voice for the voiceless and empower the most vulnerable in our society. I see social justice as part of the DNA of my office, and it is therefore paramount that our service is accessible to all, regardless of personal circumstances or literacy levels.
While I have praised the original legislation that my office has used as its governance template to date, there is one part that I have always felt uncomfortable about, and that is the requirement that all complaints should be made in writing.
My complaints advice team does a fantastic job processing the vast array of complaints that arrives at our office daily. Under the previous system, if a person has been unable to put a complaint in writing, the team have recorded the details and sent it back to the person making the complaint for agreement. Previously it has been the complainant’s responsibility to check, sign and return the form. Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 50% of these complaints were ever returned. The removal of this bureaucratic obstacle in the new legislation is a stride forward for the citizen’s voice, especially when literacy levels in Wales lag 10% behind the UK average.
The legislation also means we will gather standardised open complaints data across sectors for the first time. This will allow us to meaningfully compare how complaints are dealt with by public service providers in different parts of the country. In a system that does not use market “choice”, we know that open complaint data can help strengthen service users’ “voice”.
This is where I believe the real opportunity lies. If we are serious about improving public services in Wales, we must identify where there are shortfalls and disrupt cycles of poor public service delivery.
The new act draws on best practice from Ombudsman schemes across the world – from Scotland and Ireland to Catalonia and Ontario. The result is a futureproofed piece of progressive legislation that I am confident will stand the test of time.
My challenge now is to fully use these new powers to ensure we can deliver justice for service users in Wales and provide a platform for constructive learning that will benefit us all.
I hope that our new powers will ensure our office can do the very best it can for the public service users of Wales, and contribute towards more genuinely citizencentred services.
As a recent OECD study of the NHS concluded: “without patient choice, there must be patient voice”. That, surely, should be the mantra for all of our public services.
■ Nick Bennett is the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.