The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has made four recommendations to Government on how the organisation could improve the public services it oversees in its flagship Triennial Review, launched today.

The Review assesses the effectiveness of the Ombudsman’s service alongside the delivery of services in the local government and social care systems and suggests ways these could be improved.

The number of cases coming to the English Ombudsman service has been increasing steadily for the last three years, dominated by complex issues in the areas of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, adult social care and homelessness. These cases usually centre around the person involved having been seriously affected by the failure of services.

Because of this, the LGSCO has made four recommendations to ensure its powers are fit for purpose, and improve the way the organisations it investigates handle complaints. 

To improve services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, the Ombudsman has called for the power to investigate the way Education, Health and Care Plans are implemented in schools. It also wants to be able to investigate cases where children and young people with additional needs are admitted or excluded from schools, and issues with the support they are offered in the school setting.

To improve the way complaints are handled by independent adult social care providers, the Ombudsman has called for mandatory signposting to the LGSCO at the end of the complaints process as evidence from investigations suggests that not all providers do so, which denies people the ability to have independent redress.

Ms Amerdeep Somal said:

“As the last port of call for complaints about local government and social care services, we play a vital role in the oversight of these services and in improving services for everyone in England.

“But the landscape we operate in is changing at an ever-increasing pace, and we need our powers to reflect this so we can provide a better service to those who come to us for redress when things go wrong.

“The recommendations we have made should close some of the accountability gaps we know exist for people, and ensure we operate as a modern Ombudsman service in the years to come.”

The Ombudsman also wants its jurisdiction to be updated to ensure it is able to provide redress for all local government services, including those arrangements emerging through the devolution agenda, which aims to allow more decisions to be taken by local communities.

Finally, the Ombudsman has asked for it to be made a statutory duty to monitor compliance with its new Complaint Handling Code, due to be implemented by councils from April 2026, which is designed to make complaints handling more consistent across all local authorities.

Article date: 21 November 2024

Dolores Fernández Galiño, Valedora do Pobo, asistió a un acto organizado por la Subdelegación del Gobierno en A Coruña, con motivo de cumplirse el 20 aniversario de la publicación de la Ley Orgánica 1/2004, de 28 de diciembre, de Medidas de Protección Integral contra la Violencia de Género.

El acto consistió en un encuentro de mujeres de diversos ámbitos: la judicatura, la política, el mundo rural, el mundo de las trabajadoras del mar, sindicatos, periodistas, instituciones penitenciarias y representantes de los Centros de Información a la Mujer, que acompañaron a la Subdelegada del Gobierno, María Rivas y a la Valedora do Pobo. Se compartieron reflexiones sobre el pasado, presente y futuro de la ley de protección integral y cuestiones relativas a la discriminación estructural de las mujeres.

In data 14 novembre 2024 il Difensore civico ha avviato il ciclo di lezioni "Il cittadino e le istituzioni" per l'anno 2024/2025 presso le sedi periferiche dell’Università della terza età e del tempo disponibile, organizzato dalla Fondazione Demarchi. La collaborazione, arrivata al quarto anno consecutivo, rappresenta un'importante occasione di incontro e confronto con le comunità locali sull’attività della difesa civica a tutela del cittadino nei rapporti con la Pubblica Amministrazione, nonché uno strumento di promozione e di informazione in ordine alle modalità di svolgimento della stessa.

Il primo incontro è avvenuto presso la sede UTETD di Ossana, alla presenza di un pubblico numeroso, interessato ai temi affrontati.

In particolare il Difensore civico ha illustrato le proprie competenze - quale organo super

partes, svincolato da rapporti di subordinazione gerarchica o funzionale, chiamato a svolgere un ruolo di mediazione, di conciliazione nell’intento di pervenire ad una composizione delle questioni sottoposte alla sua attenzione - le modalità di intervento, nonché le specifiche attribuzioni conferite dalla legge in materia di accesso agli atti amministrativi e di tutela della salute alla luce della legge provinciale istitutiva della difesa civica trentina (l.p. 28/1982) e di altre leggi variamente incidenti sulle sue competenze.

La dott.ssa Gloria Bertotti dell’Ufficio del Difensore civico ha esposto alcuni casi, particolarmente

significativi, trattati recentemente riguardanti la materia dei tributi, dell'urbanistica, dell'edilizia pubblica, dei servizi pubblici, della trasparenza, del diritto all’oblio e della digitalizzazione dei servizi della ​Pubblica Amministrazione.