Question reference: S6W-26479
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 28 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 22 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the size is of any backlog of cases that the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has, and what the SPSO is doing to reduce any such backlog.
Answer
As of 18 April 2024, the SPSO had a backlog of 286 non-priority cases awaiting allocation and 0 priority cases awaiting allocation. Over the past two years, the timescales for cases requiring further investigation being allocated has reduced from 11 months to 4 months. This is despite a 33% increase in the number of complaints being received in 2023-24 when compared to 2022-23. The SPSO have received funding from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to recruit more staff to assist with continuing to reduce timescales. In addition, the SPSO continues to monitor resources and service delivery to make best use of their resources.