REFORM of the way complaints about the public sector are handled remains one of the knottier problems in the Council of Ministers’ in-tray… but the matter could move forward within the next month.
Dissatisfaction with the current process has returned to the spotlight in the wake of a complaint about the Infrastructure and Environment Department’s handling of retrospective planning applications and statutory nuisance complaints relating to medicinal cannabis cultivator Northern Leaf.
The States Complaints Panel found in favour of the complainant, triggering a firmly worded rebuttal from the department’s chief officer, who accused the panel of exceeding its remit and rejected the findings.
Although the creation of an independent public sector ombudsperson, first floated as long ago as 2000, was approved by the States Assembly in March 2018, the issue was consigned to the long grass under successive governments headed by Senator John Le Fondré and Deputy Kristina Moore.
Current Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham said in April 2024 that he was not convinced about introducing the new office to replace the complaints panel, citing a potential cost of more than £1 million per year – several times more than the figure originally planned.
Deputy Farnham tasked Deputy Moz Scott, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Economic Development and External Relations, with taking the matter forward and a consultation was launched in March of this year and closed in early May.
Deputy Scott, who attended the hearing for the Northern Leaf complaint on 2 May, said the case illustrated the problem with the existing complaints process.
“It was a complex case and one that has informed this ongoing work,” she said. “I will be meeting the Chief Minister and subject to the outcome of that discussion and him being comfortable with what’s proposed, we will be publishing an update before the end of July.
“One way or another there’s a need for reform, either by changing the way the panel operates or replacing it with the ombudsperson.”
Having been mentioned as part of the Clothier Report into the machinery of government in 2000, then Senator Philip Ozouf brought a proposition for the establishment of the role of ombudsperson two months prior to the 2018 general election, with the potential annual cost at the time given as around £250,000.
