Assembly nominates Acting Ombudsman

Date of article: 02/02/2020

Daily News of: 04/02/2020

Country:  United Kingdom - Northern Ireland

Author: Northern Ireland Ombudsman

Article language: en

Mr Paul McFadden has today (3 February 2020) been nominated by the Northern Ireland Assembly to serve as Acting Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman.

Paul has served as Deputy Ombudsman for Northern Ireland since July 2016. At that time he was also appointed the Deputy Commissioner for Local Government Standards, and the Judicial Appointments Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.

He joined NIPSO from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) where he was a member of the Senior Management Team for 7 years. He established and headed up the Complaints Standards Authority, implementing a streamlined and improved complaints handling framework across Scotland’s public bodies.

Paul previously helped establish Scotland’s independent Police Complaints Commission in 2007 and the U.K. Inspectorate of Borders and Immigration. Previously, he held a range of positions as a policy adviser for the Scottish Government.

In 2013 he was appointed by Scottish Government Ministers as a member of the Scottish Administrative Justice and Tribunals Advisory Committee, which provided external scrutiny of the administrative justice system in Scotland.

Read more

Revised Model Complaints Handling Procedures

Date of article: 31/01/2020

Daily News of: 04/02/2020

Country:  United Kingdom - Scotland

Author: Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

Article language: en

Today we are publishing the revised Model Complaints Handling Procedures (MCHPs) for all sectors (except the NHS).

Public bodies are required to implement the revised MCHPs over the coming business year, with full implementation by no later than 1 April 2021.

The MCHPs were revised to:

  • standardise the core text across all of Scotland’s public services
  • update the content in line with:
    • feedback from organisations under SPSO’s jurisdiction
    • issues identified from our casework, and
    • recent research and good practice in relation to using alternative resolution
      approaches, promoting positive complaint behaviours and improving access to
      complaints for vulnerable groups.

The revised MCHPs can be found here.

Further resources and best practice guidance to help with handling complaints and implementing the revised MCHPs can be found here

Please note, resources previously available via the standalone 'Valuing Complaints' website have been moved into the main SPSO site.  Any weblinks to these resources should automatically redirect to the relevant content on the SPSO site.    

Read more

Special Reports of the European Court of Auditors: Presentation - 20.01.2020

Date of article: 23/01/2020

Daily News of: 04/02/2020

Country:  EUROPE

Author: Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament

Article language: en

The Committee heard a presentation of the European Court of Auditors’ Special report No. 14/2019: “Have your say!: Commission’s public consultations engage citizens, but fall short of outreach activities.” The special report was prepared following a 2018 request from PETI to assess the effectiveness, appropriateness, transparency and openness of all tools available at EU level to ensure that citizens can directly participate in and contribute to the EU policy- and law-making process.

Read more

La Diputación del Común celebrará su XXXV Aniversario el 12 de febrero

Date of article: 04/02/2020

Daily News of: 04/02/2020

Country:  Spain - Canary Islands

Author: Regional Ombudsman of the Canary Islands

Article language: es

La Diputación del Común conmemorará su XXXV aniversario el miércoles, 12 de febrero, a las 19 horas, en la Sala Europa del Parlamento de Canarias.

El acto será inaugurado por el presidente del Gobierno, Ángel Víctor Torres, el presidente del Parlamento de Canarias, Gustavo Matos, y el Diputado del Común, Rafael Yanes. A continuación, el presidente de la Audiencia Nacional, José Ramón Na...

Read more

“La prevención del cáncer de colon debería ser gratuita para toda la ciudadanía”

Date of article: 03/02/2020

Daily News of: 04/02/2020

Country:  Spain - Canary Islands

Author: Regional Ombudsman of the Canary Islands

Article language: es

El Diputado del Común, Rafael Yanes, visitó las instalaciones de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, en Santa Cruz de Tenerife, con motivo de la celebración del Día Mundial contra esta enfermedad. Allí fue recibido por el presidente y la gerente de la Asociación, Andrés Orozco y Carlota Cobo, respectivamente.

Durante la visita, Orozco informó al Diputado de que Canarias es la única...

Read more