OMBUDSMAN

As with tribunals, so the institution of the ombudsman reflects the increased activity of the contemporary State. As the State became more engaged in everyday social activity, it increasingly impinged on, and on occasion conflicted with, the individual citizen. Courts and tribunals were available to deal with substantive breaches of particular rules and procedures, but there remained some disquiet as to the possibility of the adverse effects of the implementation of general State policy on individuals. If tribunals may be categorised as an ADR procedure to the ordinary court system in relation to substantive decisions taken in breach of rules, the institution of ombudsman represents a procedure for the redress of complaints about the way in which such decisions have been taken. It has to be admitted, however, that the two categories overlap to a considerable degree. The ombudsman procedure, however, is not just an alternative to the court and tribunal system; it is based upon a distinctly different approach to dealing with disputes. Indeed, the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967, which established the position of the first ombudsman, provides that complainants who have rights to pursue their complaints in either of those fora will be precluded from making use of the ombudsman procedure.

            The concept of the ombudsman is Scandinavian in origin, and the function of the office holder is to investigate complaints of maladministration; that is, situations where the performance of a government department has fallen below acceptable standards of  administration. The first ombudsman, appointed under the 1967 legislation, operated, as the present ombudsman still operates, under the title of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and was empowered to consider central government processes only. Since that date, a number of other ombudsmen have been appointed to oversee the administration of local government in England and Wales, under the Local Government Act 1974. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own local government ombudsmen, who fulfil the same task. There are also Health Service Commissioners for England, Wales and Scotland, whose duty it is to investigate the administration and provision of services in the health service and, in October 1994, Sir Peter Woodhead was appointed as the first Prisons Ombudsman. The ombudsman system has also spread beyond the realm of government administration and there are ombudsmen overseeing the operation of, amongst other things, legal services, banking and insurance. Some schemes, such as the legal services scheme, have been established by statute, but many others have been established by industry as a means of selfregulation; as regards this latter type, the Newspaper Ombudsman does not appear to have been a great success and it has been rumoured that the position might be disbanded.

            The European Parliament appointed an ombudsman under the powers extended to it by Art 195 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community The European Ombudsman has the function of investigating maladministration in all Community institutions, including the nonjudicial operation of the European Court of Justice.

            Before going on to consider the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner in some detail, mention should also be made of the various regulatory authorities which were established to control the operation of the privatised former State monopolies such as the water, gas, telephone and railway industries. Thus, OFWAT, OFGAS and OFTEL were set up, with part of their remit being to deal with particular consumer complaints as well as the general regulation of the various sectors.