ALMOST £400,000 could be specifically ringfenced to create a new body to investigate complaints against the public sector after several years of delays.
The Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, in an amendment to the 2026 Budget, have called for the creations of a public services ombudsman.
The panel said that it feared that if £398,000 is not ring-fenced from the government’s planned spending proposals “the ombudsperson workstream will not progress”.
In a letter to Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham earlier this year, the panel highlighted that there was “no reference to the ombudsperson or complaints procedure” within the document – which is due to be debated next month.
It follows years of debate over whether an independent body should be set up to handle complaints about government departments and other public bodies.
In 2018, the States Assembly agreed in principle that, subject to further research, one should be established to replace the existing complaints board. However, an ombudsman has never been established with the project being delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and funding constraints.
A public consultation took place earlier this year and, in September, it emerged that proposals for either strengthening the existing system for handling complaints about public services – or creating an ombudsperson – were being considered by the Council of Ministers.
The report accompanying the amendment acknowledges that Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham later confirmed £398,000 had been set aside for this work under the Cabinet Office budget.
But it said that the panel “remain concerned as no reference or specific allocation of funding to the ombudsperson workstream is made in the Budget”, adding that: “It is not clear that the £398,000 from the Cabinet Office budget as referenced in the Chief Minister’s response, will be used specifically to progress the ombudsperson workstream.”
It also noted a clarification from government that the amount would be reduced by £50,000 to support the States of Jersey Complaints Panel.
If the amendment is successful, the expenditure proposal for the Cabinet Office would be reduced by £398,000 – which would instead be allocated to a new head of expenditure entitled “Jersey Public Services Ombudsperson”.
“The Panel is concerned that if funding is not ring-fenced within the Budget for the purpose of establishing an ombudsperson the funding could be used for other purposes and that the Ombudsperson workstream will not progress,” the report stated.
