Ombudsman's budget unclear, says Welsh Assembly

21 Jan 11
Assembly members have criticised the Welsh ombudsman’s latest budget as confusing and lacking in detail.
By Vivienne Russell


24 January 2011

Assembly members have criticised the Welsh ombudsman’s latest budget as confusing and lacking in detail.

The Public Service Ombudsman for Wales, Peter Tyndall, submitted his first draft budget for 2011/12 to the Welsh Assembly’s cross-party finance committee for approval on October 29. The AMs then asked him to revise it to take account of the need to make savings in the tight financial climate following the Comprehensive Spending Review.

A second version of the budget, submitted to the committee on January 13, represented a 4.8% reduction in real-terms funding. However, the ombudsman warned the committee that this level of cuts would make it difficult to discharge all of his statutory duties, and some complaints might go unresolved as a result.

Responding on January 21, the committee voiced concerns about the quality of the information in the revised budget. They said the way it was presented was neither clear nor consistent and that the ombudsman needed to adopt a more ‘effective and holistic approach to performance and financial management’, which would take account of the real costs of handling cases.

Finance committee chair Angela Burns said: ’It is concerning that a body charged with ensuring fairness and good quality services from the public sector should demonstrate a lack of clarity and detail in its own draft budget.

‘We feel it is essential the ombudsman’s accounts should be transparent and easy to understand not just by use, but most importantly by the public.’

In response, the ombudsman’s office said it was ‘disappointed’ with the committee’s findings.

A spokeswoman said: ‘The budget this year was presented in the same format as in each of the last four years since the inception of the office in 2006. There was no prior indication from the committee that its requirements had changed for this year.’

But she welcomed the committee’s suggestion that more time be devoted to scrutinising the budget in future, saying: ‘The lack of time available for discussion identified for the committee was not conducive to resolving the issues.’

She added: ‘The ombudsman is committed to continuing to deliver a high quality, independent complaints handling service for the people of Wales which aims to both address individual concerns and also to continue to ensure that public services in Wales learn from the outcomes of individual complaints. It is vital that the resources available to his office are sufficient to enable him to do so.’

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