Seventh report - Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Scrutiny 2019–20

The government commits to simplifying and streamlining the PHSO’s Annual Report to make performance data more transparent and easier to understand, stating that changes in this direction had already begun.

The government rejected the recommendation, stating the information provided was correct, accurate, and already clarified to the committee, therefore no correction was needed.

The government commits to continuously improving the quality of PHSO's casework in the identified Service Charter areas and will provide an update to the Committee at the next scrutiny inquiry on how these improvements are progressing.

The government acknowledges the value of sharing evidence schedules and already produces a full schedule of *material* evidence upon request. However, it deems scheduling *non-material* evidence disproportionate and does not commit to proactively sharing the schedule without a request.

The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will report the number of new enquiries separately from handled complaints.

The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will provide the specific breakdown of health cases requested.

The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations on performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will report the specific metrics requested.

The government states it collects and provides data on cases not taken forward due to time limits, noting 969 such cases in 2019-20. However, it confirms it does not collect specific data on how often or why the Ombudsman’s discretion is used, but will publish updated information on handling out-of-time cases in a new service model policy.

The government acknowledges the committee's detailed recommendations for performance data in the Annual Report, committing to simplify and streamline it for greater transparency, but does not explicitly state it will publish a target for correspondence response or track performance against such a standard.

The government welcomes the idea of peer review and will inform the appointed peer review chair of the committee's recommendations regarding the review's scope, including casework quality. However, they emphasize the need for flexibility and the independent chair's ultimate decision-making power on the report's structure.

The government acknowledges the value of an independent auditor on the peer review panel and has developed a list of validated panel members including auditors. They will notify the future peer review chair of this recommendation for consideration, while maintaining that the chair will ultimately decide the panel's composition.

The government acknowledges the committee's recommendation for a specific report structure for the value for money study and will inform the future peer review chair of these suggestions. However, it stresses the independent chair's ultimate authority over the report's final structure.

The government acknowledged the importance of modernising Ombudsman standards but stated there are no plans to reform the system up to and including 2023-24 due to current pressures and the parliamentary timetable, committing only to consider future opportunities.

The government accepts the recommendation, committing to start publishing casework decisions online via a new digital system from April 2021, with future plans to also publish information regarding compliance with PHSO's recommendations.