Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that an appeal against a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman decision not to investigate a case is not reviewed by the same person who made the original decision.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman operates independently of central Government. Decisions about how complaints are investigated and reviewed fall solely within the Ombudsman’s statutory powers. This independence rightly keeps ministers at arm’s length from the complaints service the Ombudsman provides; a service that is an important element of the overarching accountability system for local government.

The Government has no plans to take any steps to dictate how the Ombudsman investigates or reviews individual cases.