Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Official Report 905KB pdf

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

The next item of business is consideration of Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body motion S5M-03830, in the name of Bob Doris, on the appointment of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

I speak as a member of the cross-party selection panel that was established under our standing orders, to invite members to nominate Rosemary Agnew to Her Majesty the Queen for appointment as Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The cross-party selection panel was chaired by the Presiding Officer, and the other members were Clare Haughey, Richard Leonard and Margaret Mitchell.

Although the Parliament is not subject to the code of practice for ministerial appointments to public bodies, we followed those guidelines to ensure that best practice was observed and the process was open and fair. On behalf of the panel, I thank James Walker, the independent assessor who oversaw the process, who has provided the Parliament with a validation certificate that confirms that the process complied with good practice and that the nomination is made on merit after a fair, open and transparent process.

As many members know, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s role is to investigate complaints about most organisations that provide public services in Scotland when a member of the public claims to have suffered injustice or hardship as a result of maladministration or service failure. The organisations that provide public services in Scotland include councils, the national health service, universities and colleges, most water and sewerage providers, prisons, the Scottish Government itself and most Scottish authorities.

The ombudsman also has a statutory duty to publish standardised complaints-handling procedures for the public sector and to monitor and promote best practice in complaints handling. In addition, the ombudsman is the independent reviewer of the Scottish welfare fund, and from 1 April 2017, as part of health and social care integration, the ombudsman will be able to consider professional judgment in relation to social work complaints.

The ombudsman’s role is important, not only because it provides an independent, impartial and free complaints service to the people of Scotland but because it lets us know how well or otherwise our public services are working.

Our nominee is in the chamber this afternoon. Rosemary Agnew was the unanimous choice of the panel, from a strong field of candidates. She is currently the Scottish Information Commissioner—a post that she has held since 1 May 2012. Prior to that, she was chief executive of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission; immediately before that she worked as an assistant ombudsman for the United Kingdom Local Government Ombudsman.

The panel thinks that Rosemary will bring to the post considerable knowledge and experience of complaints handling, a commitment to providing first-class customer care, and the enthusiasm and drive to deliver an independent and effective complaints system for Scotland. I am sure that the Parliament will want to wish her every success in her new role.

I am sure that the Parliament will also want to put on record its thanks to Jim Martin, who, during his term in office as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the office and set up an internationally recognised complaints-handling authority, to support and improve complaints handling in public bodies in Scotland. I am sure that all members wish him well for the future.

I move,

That the Parliament nominates Rosemary Agnew to Her Majesty The Queen for appointment as the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman under section 1 of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002.

I, too, thank Jim Martin for his work as ombudsman. I thank Rosemary Agnew for her work as Scottish Information Commissioner and congratulate her on her nomination.