How complaints are handled determines the quality of the relationship between consumers and public services. The best performing organisations welcome complaints as a way of engaging consumers. A failure to recognise the importance of complaints leads to insufficient redress for the individual, limits the impact that complaints have in improving services, and alienates the public. In some parts of public services, there are encouraging signs of increased attention to good complaints handling. However, Government as a whole cannot be said to be complying with best practice in complaints handling or adapting to the needs and expectations of today's citizen. Success depends on the right leadership. The Committee recommend that: there should be a minister for government policy on complaints handling; the primary objective of the Cabinet Office review of complaints handling in Government should be to change attitudes and behaviour in public administration at all levels in respect of complaints handling; in respect of complaints from MPs handled by ministers, replies must be accurate, clear and helpful and with no sharing of confidential information or delegation of responsibility for responding; the Government should create a single point of contact for citizens to make complaints about government departments and agencies; and the Government should provide leadership to those responsible for various parts of administrative justice, to ensure that there is a clear and consistent approach to sharing, learning and best practice.

In this report the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) calls for a 'People's Ombudsman' and says the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), which investigates complaints against the NHS and other government departments and agencies, is outdated. Citizens should have direct and more user-friendly access to the Ombudsman. None of the Ombudsmen created since the PHSO's operations were established in legislation 47 years ago have adopted the same restricted model as the Parliamentary Ombudsman. As a priority, the restriction on citizens' direct and open access to PHSO, known as the MP filter, must be abolished (as is already the case in respect of NHS complaints). PHSO must be able to receive complaints other than in writing: such as in person, by telephone or online, just as is expected of any normal complaints system. PHSO should have powers to investigate areas of concern without having first to receive a complaint from a service user. Parliament should strengthen the accountability of PHSO. PASC, along with other Departmental Select Committees, should make greater use of the intelligence gathered by the PHSO to hold Government to account. A consultation should be held on the creation of a single public services ombudsman for England. At the same time, there must be a distinctive ombudsman service for UK non-devolved matters.

This book seeks to persuade policy-makers and legislators of the need for legislative reform of the ombudsman sector, and to evidence the ways in which such reformative legislation can be designed. In pursuing this goal, this edited collection represents an academic response to a challenge laid down by the current Parliamentary Ombudsman in February 2018, at a JUSTICE event. It draws on the original research of the authors and bases its proposals for reform on a fundamental re-assessment of the focus and purpose of ombudsman systems. A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform deals with key, recurring controversies in ombudsman scholarship, including the role that the ombudsman should be fulfilling, the procedures it should employ, the powers that are necessary for effectiveness, and the means of ensuring both freedom of operation and accountability. It will inform academic and policy debates about the future of the ombudsman institution in the UK and its analysis should be of interest to academics and policy-makers in other jurisdictions.

At the start of this Parliament, the Minister for the Cabinet Office indicated the ten-yearly census should be axed and the 2011 census should be the last. But in this report the Public Administration Select Committee urges the government not to scrap the 2021 census. Good figures on the people in the country are of fundamental importance to the statistical system, policy makers and society more widely, and the ten-yearly census gives detailed information on small areas. This report follows the National Statistician's announcement in March 2014 that she recommends that Government keep the Census in 2021, but that it should be conducted largely online, and that the Government should make much greater use of the data which it already holds in order to improve the accuracy of population estimates. The Committee supports the recommendation from the National Statistician, but urges the Office for National Statistics to do much more to make the best use of the data which the Government already collects, for example through the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the Department of Health. The Committee says that the Office for National Statistics' work on the future of the Census has, to date, been limited, and recommends that the Office for National Statistics now sets out a much more ambitious vision for the use of this data to provide rich and valuable population statistics.

This casebook studies the law governing judicial review of administrative action. It examines the foundations and the organisation of judicial review, the types of administrative action, and corresponding kinds of review and access to court. Significant attention is also devoted to the conduct of the court proceedings, the grounds for review, and the standard of review and the remedies available in judicial review cases. The relevant rules and case law of Germany, England and Wales, France and the Netherlands are analysed and compared. The similarities and differences between the legal systems are highlighted. The impact of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights is considered, as well as the influence of EU legislative initiatives and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the legal systems examined. Furthermore, the system of judicial review of administrative action before the European courts is studied and compared to that of the national legal systems. During the last decade, the growing influence of EU law on national procedural law has been increasingly recognised. However, the way in which national systems of judicial review address the requirements imposed by EU law differs substantially. The casebook compares the primary sources (legislation, case law etc) of the legal systems covered, and explores their differences and similarities: this examination reveals to what extent a ius commune of judicial review of administrative action is developing.

This book reviews the techniques, mechanisms and architectures of the way disputes are processed in England and Wales. Adopting a comparative approach, it evaluates the current state of the main different types of dispute resolution systems, including business, consumer, personal injury, family, property, employment and claims against the state. It provides a holistic overview of the whole system and suggests both systemic and detailed reforms. Examining dispute resolution pathways from users' perspectives, the book highlights options such as ombudsmen, regulators, tribunals and courts as well as mediation and other ADR and ODR approaches. It maps numerous sectoral developments to see if learning might be spread to other sectors. Several recurrent themes arise, including the diversification in the use of techniques; adoption of digital, online and artificial technology; cost and funding constraints; the emergence of new intermediaries; the need to focus accessibility arrangements for people and businesses that need help with their problems; and identifying effective ways for achieving behavioural change. This timely study analyses the shift from adversarial legalism to softer means of resolving social problems, and points to a major opportunity to devise an imaginative and holistic strategic vision for the jurisdiction. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's International Arbitration online service.

This book offers a unique understanding of what administrative justice means in Wales and for Wales, whilst also providing an expert and timely analysis of comparative developments in law and administration. It includes critical analysis of distinctly Welsh administrative laws and redress measures, whilst examining contemporary administrative justice issues across a range of common and civil law, European and international jurisdictions. Key issues include the roles of commissioners, administrative courts, tribunals and ombudsmen in devolved and federal nations, and evolving relationships between citizens and the state – especially in the context of localisation and austerity – and will be of interest to legal and public administration professionals at home and internationally.

Over the next ten years, development aid in the form of grants should be replaced for lower middle income countries. DFID should continue to channel some of its finance through multilaterals, making greater use of their specialist skills and expertise rather than replicating these within its own bilateral programmes. DFID should also establish a financial instrument team, prepare a development finance strategy and publish a Development Finance White Paper during 2014. This strategy should include consideration of whether to establish a UK development bank. The overwhelming drive in UK aid should continue to focus on lifting people out of poverty and meeting post-2015 development objectives. The UK should continue to fund the development and delivery of key services to the very poorest people in low income countries through a system of grants. We should also continue to channel 0.7 % of GNI into development cooperation. But, to support structural transformation in lower middle income countries a significant proportion of future UK development finance should also be delivered via a system of concessional loans and other financial instruments

This book explores how concerns can be raised about the NHS, why raising concerns hasn't always improved standards, and how a no-fault open culture approach could drive improvements. The book describes a wide range of mechanisms for raising concerns about the NHS, including complaints, the ombudsman, litigation, HSIB, and the major inquiries since 2000, across the various UK jurisdictions. The NHS approach is contextualised within the broader societal developments in dispute resolution, accountability, and regulation. The authors take a holistic view, and outline practical solutions for reforming how the NHS responds to problems. These should improve the situation for those raising concerns and for those working within the NHS, as well as providing cost savings. The no-fault approaches proposed in the book provide long-term sustainable solutions to systemic problems, which are particularly timely given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NHS. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, ADR practitioners, practising lawyers, and policy makers.