29/03/2022
Please forward a copy of my rights and privacy notice information to me in printed form to:
On 30th April 2021, Michael Gove, then Cabinet Office Minister, wrote to the Chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) to seek the Committees view on 'extending' the tenure of the current Ombudsman, Mr. Behrens by two years. The Committee has given it's recommendation and the documents are published on the PACAC website. Despite providing written evidence (published) on this matter to PACAC and making several approaches to the Cabinet Office, I have yet to see any official explanation as to whether such an extension has been formally approved or why is considered lawful either by the Cabinet Office or the Ombudsman himself. Section 1 Parliamentary Commissioners Act 1967 is perfectly clear and unequivocal. It prohibits any extension or renewal of the Ombudsman's term of office. Section 3 does provide for the Ombudsman to remain in post for up to one additional year whilst a search for his successor is made ( a process which could have been commenced by Michael Gove in April 2021) At the PACAC scrutiny hearing in December 2021, Mr. Behrens indicated he would like to stay in office for a further two years. However, according to the official transcript of the scrutiny hearing on 18th May 2020, he personally accepted his term of office ended in March 2022. The relevant text can be found in the Ombudsman's answer to question 46 posed by Tom Randall MP at that hearing. I make the following Freedom of Information request of the Ombudsman. 1. With just one month to go before the Ombudsman's term of office expires, can he confirm whether it has been formally extended and, if so, for what length of time. 2. Has the Ombudsman signed a contract for any period beyond the end of March 2022 3. The latest published letter from the Ombudsman to the Chair of PACAC indicates the Ombudsman will be in office later in the spring. Bearing in mind the strict wording of sections 1 and 3 of the Parliamentary Commissioners Act 1967, why does the Ombudsman consider these sections of the Act do not apply and the legal rationale as to why they may be ignored. 4. Has the Ombudsman himself taken legal advice as to the lawfulness regarding the proposed' extension' of his tenure, bearing in mind that his term of office was for a maximum period of five years and he was advised it may be less. 5. On his appointment in 2017, the Ombudsman was granted letters patent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Were the letters patent granted for a particular period and where might they be examined. 6. An important aspect of the Ombudsman's work is to identify cases of maladministration. I the Ombudsman provides information and explanation as to why his continuing in office is not maladministration on his own part and also on the part of PACAC and the Cabinet Office.
Please may I be provided with a scanned or photographic copy of the letters patent used for the appointment of Rob Behrens as Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England.
On 01/02/22 in your FOI response to me (please refer back) you stated -- in representing PHSO Policy and Procedure: "To clarify and confirm, the PHSO does not consider itself to have abused any complainants". (a) Please provide any recorded data which supports this PHSO opinion (your 'consideration', confirmed as above), for the last 7 -seven- years. (b) By what means was this data collected please? (c) When and in what format was the data submitted to Government PACAC (or previously known as 'PASC'), for scrutiny, please (for those 7 years)? FOI effort / expense: Please provide answers up to limit of FOI requirements to help the questioner.
Who is ultimately responsible for the proper working of your in-house legal team. In other words who has oversight and is accountable for any acts or omissions.
25/03/2022
For each of the last 4 years the number of complaints received relating to Guys Hospital “1. For each of the last 4 years the number of complaints received relating to a Hospital 2.For each of the cases referred to in 1 the number that were investigated and the average time it took to start the investigation and complete the investigation 3. For those investigated the number that were rejected and the number that produced a positive outcome for the complainant by year 4.Using your own statistics provide for each year the breakdown of type of complaint.” For Question 4 I left it up to you to provide the stats you already hold so I reject your claim for exclusion under section12(1)
24/03/2022
Please send me a printed copy of your Privacy Policy.
22/03/2022
I would be grateful if the PHSO's FOI team would supply to me information for the number of complaints regarding the MPS for the time period June 2015 – December 2021 Therefore, an addition to my request for information on MPS complaints to the PHSO,-I would also be grateful if the PHSO FOI team (in its administrative review response),-to tell its answers to my following questions: q.1) would 'withdrawn' 'discontinued', 'closed', and/or 'settled' be the other destination outcomes of DBS complaints that the PHSO investigated? If your answer is yes, or no, then please supply to me : i.) information for the number of complaints regarding the DBS for the time period June 2015 – December 2021, that were: : .'withdrawn', 'discontinued', 'closed', and 'settled'; and, ii.) information for the number of complaints regarding the MPS for the time period June 2015 – December 2021, that were: upheld, not upheld ,'withdrawn', 'discontinued', 'closed', and 'settled' . q.2) is there supposed to be any information contained on pages 3-9, of the attached response document?
I would like to know how many complaints the Parlimentary Ombudsman received concerning the British Film Institute during the period of 2019-21. I would also like to know how many were accepted.
21/03/2022
Request For a Copy Of The PHSO Procedures Concerning How The PHSO Deals With Formal Complaints Made Against Them & At What PHSO Stage Are Medical Records Requested For A Case, Ie: At the Initial Case Assessment Stage Or At The Investigation Stage?
I would appreciate if you could give me the name of the surgeon you used to help with the report.
18/03/2022
The current number of employees who are responsible solely or predominantly for diversity issues in your organisations (e.g. Diversity Officers, Inclusions Officers, etc., or those whose roles are mainly deal with similar responsibilities). The total sum spent on the salaries of such roles. The average salary and salary range of such roles.
17/03/2022
We are submitting this Freedom of Information request to your Organisation in order to obtain information regarding whether you have any current insurances in force. Please could you therefore respond to the following: - • Please confirm the name, position and contact details (telephone number and email address) of the person responsible for arranging and administering the Authority’s insurances. • Which classes of commercial insurance do the Authority currently procure? When are these policies due for renewal? • How much does the Authority spend annually on its insurance premium? • Please confirm the name of the Authority’s current insurance broker/advisor (if applicable). • When was the contract for insurance broking services last reviewed/tendered? • When will the current contract for insurance brokerage services expire? Is this subject to a potential extension?
15/03/2022
1. Please provide all information held surrounding the decision to change your approach. 2. Can you confirm that the term 'review' is not used when you consider a complaint from a service user who disagrees with your final decision? 3. Please provide the number of individuals who have contacted you since 27 August 2021 to express disagreement with your final decisions. 4. Please provide the number of times these individuals have been told that you will consider their complaint further. 5. Please provide the number of these complaints that are still open.
1. Please provide the number of Operation Managers you currently have who manage teams of caseworkers 2. Please provide all information held concerning the number of Operation Managers you are aiming to have in post who will be responsible for managing caseworkers. 3. Can you confirm that all caseworkers are managed by Operation Managers? If not, please provide all recorded information on what determines whether a particular caseworker is or is not managed by an Operation Manager. 4. Can you confirm that Operation Managers also manage senior caseworkers? 5. Please provide the current number of caseworkers and senior caseworkers you have.
09/03/2022
There is a Psychiatrist by the name of (redacted), who is currently working at Wells Medical Centre* but is not listed with any of the online registers, no matter how I amend the spelling of his name. This is concerning because I thought such professionals needed to be registered with regulatory bodies in order to practise Psychiatry in the UK. * = (redacted) (https://www.wellshealthcentre.co.uk/) In fact, even when this man’s details are entered into the Website for Wells Medical Centre itself, no results are found! Given his absence from expected locations that one would believe they could easily locate him, I have taken the time to research (redacted) as far as I can online and, oddly enough, I have found nothing bad things about him! A review and a press report are linked below as examples of what I have found along with a review of the location he currently operates from in Somerset. If I had found a positive report, I would have added it but I couldn’t – not one! The links below do not make for positive reading, so, given the harm he recently caused to my friend, when she visited him the other day, you will appreciate why I am so concerned now that the NHS appears to be using what seems to be an unregistered (and, therefore, uninsured) Psychiatrists whose only online presence is a negative one. As such, would you please disclose to me the professional data/records for this (what, at this point, can only be termed ‘alleged’) Psychiatrist, including his full name, his professional registration number with your organisation, his date of registration with your organisation, any breaks of registration with your organisation (and the reasons for those breaks) as well as any complaint/investigation history that may exist – along with any result that can be publicly disclosed under the FOI Act? I’m sure you will also appreciate why I need ‘evidenced confirmation’ and not simply ‘a claim’ or ‘an assurance’ in a reply email that he is actually registered,
1, During the period my complaint has been with the PHSO ie 2020 and 2021, how many complaints were received by the PHSO about NHSE where the issue was about eligibility for CHC funding ? 2. How many of the complaints referred to at 1 above , were upheld by the PHSO?
07/03/2022
1. What is the average time that the Ombudsman takes to deal with complaints from the time of receipt of the complaint to the Ombudsman’s determination? 2. What percentage of complaints were upheld in the last period for which figures are available?
04/03/2022
PHSO Scrutiny 23 Nov. 2020 Ombudsman Rob Behrens said (Q18): 'As we hope we will be able to go on to say, we now have a new quality matrix to judge the quality of our decisions before they go out. That gives us assurance that we are trying our best to make sure that the decisions are as appropriate as they can be. These are things that any sensible person would do. The challenge is to see how long it takes for them to have an impact on complainant perspectives.' Please provide full details of the 'new quality matrix'.
03/03/2022
Are you able to share some statistics around the percentage of complaints related to CAFCASS that the PHSO does not elect to progress and that the complainant progresses to court? I am particularly interested in the numbers involved, for example, the number of complaints the PHSO received related to CAFCASS in a given period, the number of those complaints that the PHSO did not investigate, the number of those complaints that the complainant then elected to go through the courts, and the number of those complaints that went to court where the court ruled in favour of the complainant (i.e. where the court found that the complaint was improperly handled by PHSO). Further, what is a typical outcome where the court finds that the PHSO did not properly handle a complaint? Does the court typically order the PHSO to progress the complaint? What else would the court do if they find in favour of a complainant? Any examples?